A 55.0 g piece of copper wire is heated, and the temperature of the wire changes from 19.0 C to 86.0 C. The amount of heat absorbed is 343 cal. What is the specific heat of copper? Show your work.

Question

thadyoung · Answer

To find the specific heat of copper, solve for C, in the equation:
$\sf \color{red}{q=mC \Delta T}$

q = heat
m = mass
C = heat capacity
$\Delta$T = change in heat, meaning T$_2$-T$_1$ 
This is a physical property, which means you should probably use absolute temperature (convert Celcius to kelvin)

jfraser · Answer

because it's a $change$ in temperature, and a difference of 1C and 1 K are equal in size, you can use either.