One way to identify the composition of metal fragments found at the site of an explosion is to measure the specific heat of fragments. Suppose a fragment is found to have a specific heat of 0.129 J/gc. Would this information alone be enough to identify the fragment? If not, what would a method to identify the metal be that wouldn't require any additional equipment?

Question

aaronq · Answer

hmm without any other equipment?

i mean specific heat capacities are pretty good indicators, you could also do something simple to corroborate with it like find it's density

thatonegirl_ · Answer

That's what I was thinking. Isn't it possible that different metals can have the same specific heat? @aaronq

aaronq · Answer

yeah, i think so, or at least very close that would be within the uncertainty of the measurements.

thatonegirl_ · Answer

But wouldn't finding the density  require additional equipment? >.<

aaronq · Answer

hm it would require a balance (which you would already have since you measured the mass for the heat transfer experiment) and a graduated cylinder (which you probably already had since you measured the mass of the water).

aaronq · Answer

so no, no new equipment

thatonegirl_ · Answer

Alright, thanks again :D

aaronq · Answer

no problem!