Chemistry Lab
Determining the Specific Heat Capacity of Copper
Purpose
By assuming that heat lost by one material is gained by another, we can apply this thinking to hot copper
pennies and cool water in a calorimetric cup. In this lab we will determine the specific heat capacity of copper
and then determine how far off our experimental results are from the accepted heat capacity.
Materials
15 Pre-1982 Pennies (all copper)
Calorimetric apparatus
Large test tube
250 ml Beaker
°C Thermometer
Hot plate
100 ml Graduate
Balance, to .01 gram
Procedure
1. Fill a 250 mL beaker with 150 mL of distilled water. Use the graduations on the beaker to do this.
Place on hot plate and set plate to a medium high setting (8 on the scale of 0-10).
2. Determine the mass of 15 pennies to the nearest .01 grams. Record.
3. Place pennies in a large test tube and then place the test tube in the beaker with heating water.
4. Once water begins to boil, allow pennies to set in the boiling water for at least 5 minutes.
5. While water is heating, set up the calorimetric apparatus as demonstrated by your teacher.
6. Using the graduated cylinder fill the calorimeter beaker with exactly 100 mL of distilled water. Measure
and record the initial temperature.
7. After the pennies have heated in the boiling water (100°C) for five or more minutes, use the hot pad to
remove the test tube from the water and then immediately dump the pennies into the room temperature
water of the calorimeter.
8. Allow pennies to warm the water in the calorimeter until the temperature stops increasing. Record the
highest temperature reached in the calorimeter.
9. Dry the pennies.
10. Repeat steps #2-9. Average your results.
Chemistry Lab
Determining the Specific Heat Capacity of Copper
Name _______________________
Date ________________ Per ___
Data:
Trial 1
Trial 2
Average
Temperature of Heated Pennies
100 °C
100 °C
100 °C
Mass of Water in Calorimeter,
mL = g
100 g
100 g
100 g
Mass of 15 pennies
Temperature of water in
calorimeter before pennies (Ti)
Temperature of water in
calorimeter after pennies (Tf)
Calculations/Conclusions:
1. Given that q = mcT, calculate the heat gained (in J) by water. Use average values.
2. Heat lost by the pennies is equal to heat gained by the water in the calorimeter. Using this information,
determine the specific heat of copper (use average values).
3. The accepted value of copper is 0.385 J/g°C. Calculate your percent error:
% error = | Accepted – Experimental | x 100 =
Accepted
4. When you dropped the hot pennies in the room temperature water the temperature only increased a few
degrees. Why?
5. The specific heat of lead is 0.16 J/gºC. If the same mass of lead and copper were place in the sun for 3
hours, which one would get hot faster? Why?