A cowboy out on the range decides to heat his coffee the good old-fashioned way:

Question

A cowboy out on the range decides to heat his coffee the good old-fashioned way: by heating up a steel railroad spike in the fire, then submerging it into his fancy high-tech polymer super-insulating coffee canteen full of joe. The steel railroad spike weighs 250. g and steel has a specific heat of 0.460 J/(g * °C). Once pulled out of the fire and just as it is added to the coffee, the spike had a temperature of 520.0 °C With 300.g of room-temperature 20.0 °C coffee with extra cream and sugar, the cowboy finds that the temperature of the coffee rises to 65.0 °C. Assuming all the heat lost by the spike is gained by the coffee, what is the specific heat of the coffee to three significant figures?

Explanation / Answer

Assuming all the heat lost by the spike is gained by the coffee, what is the specific heat of the coffee to three significant figures?

Equilibrium temperature is 65 deg.c

Heat lost by spike= heat gained by coffee

(Mass* specific heat* temperature difference ) spike = Mass* specific heat* temperature difference ) coffee

250*0.46* (520-65)= 300* specific heat of coffee* (65-20)

52325 =specific heat of coffee* 13500

Specific heat of coffee= 3.876j/g.deg.c

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