Question

We did a really simple lab this week. All we did was put metal chunks in an ice bath for 5 min to get them cold.

Answer 1

Where the metal chunks heated first?

Answer 2

hang on. I'm typing the ? .... Lol I'm at work so it's just going to maybe take me a minute :)

Answer 3

Then we took initial and final water temp to calculate delta T. We have 5 different metal chunks we did this with. Then we found the Cs of the metals using all that info... I'm good with that.
In our report the teacher wants us to give reasons why our Cs may differ from the actual literature value for Cs. I'm good with that too(we assumed the metal temp was 0 degree C and we also assumed the final temp of water and the metal are the same.) .. However. He would like us to give ways in which we could improve our accuracy. Any suggested ideas would be appreciated. I'm horrible with coming up with things on my own. LOL.

Answer 4

So far I can only think of maybe leaving the metal in the water longer to ensure the final temp of the water and the metal are truly the same..

Answer 5

@Zuko

Answer 6

You are putting the metals in different baths correct?

Answer 7

Yes. we put them in different baths and each group did the experiment ... then we took the data for each of the 5 different metals from the other students and getting our data from that

Answer 8

Well then to get the most accurate results you would want to make sure that the water temperature for each bath is relatively the same.

Answer 9

It was just an ice bath. Didn't put any water in it.

Answer 10

Oops, don't know why I said water haha. regardless, make sure the temperature is regulated. For example, your bodies give off heat and therefore if more students are near one bath than another that could change temperature. Pressurizing the tubs would also be a could idea I would say.

Answer 11

sounds good to me!!! :) I just have to create a report out of 5 seconds of work lol

Answer 12

@Zuko Would it be correct to say that it would be more accurate if we used a foam cup to do the ice bath instead of glass beaker? because the foam won't absorb the heat like glass?

Answer 13

Of course! Specific heat of containers is also a variable you can implement into your experiment.

Answer 14

Sounds great. I thnk I'm going in the right direction

Answer 15

What exactly does it mean when you talk about specific heat of the container? or the heat capacity of the container?? .. are those the same? and what exactly does it mean

Answer 16

The most important thing to note is that these are all assumptions. Although we may be fairly certain that these factors are key into the variability of the data we cannot say for certain until we put it to the test. If you are to redo the experiment I would put three metals into styrofoam and 2 (unfortunately not 3) in the regular glass beakers.

Answer 17

well we did 5 different kinds of metals .. not 5 different of the same metal. So would it be relevant to do it that way? or would you want to do say 1 zinc in glass and 1 zinc in foam ... 1 lead in glass 1 lead in foam etc..... ?

Answer 18

Well specific heat is a value that tells you how much energy must be put into the material in order to change its temperature. If something has a high specific heat than it takes more energy to alter its temperature and vice versa. For example water and ice in a cup, the reason the water doesn't freeze and the ice melts is because it would take more energy for the ice to freeze the water than for the water to melt the ice; with that being said materials with a high specific heat are great insulators.

Answer 19

Oh well that changes everything haha. If you have multiple groups in your class using the same metals than yes, have one or a few do each metal in styrofoam and another group put each one in glass.

Answer 20

Ok. So basically Cs for the container is the same as Cs for metals then? .. I thought it meant something different. lol

Answer 21

Sorry. I should have been more specific. Lol

Answer 22

Well no, the container has its own heat capacity value and the metals have their own as well.

Answer 23

yeah I know the heat capacity is different .. but the meaning is the same

Answer 24

Oh, okay I thought you were saying something else haha. Yes the concept is the same throughout.