Table of Contents
IGCSE Coordinated Science: Thermal Capacity
1. Demonstrate understanding of the term thermal capacity
Thermal Capacity is often defined to be the amount of thermal energy required to raise the temperature of a substance by 1 Kelvin.
Obviously, different substances have different thermal capacities.
2. Describe an experiment to measure the specific heat capacity of a substance.
The formula for Specific heat capacity is :
E = m c ΔT
we can rearrange the equation to get
c=E/ m ΔT
We want to find the Specific Heat capacity of water, which we know to be around 4200Jg-1°C-1
Steps
- Set up a circuit with a heater, voltmeter, ammeter, and variable power supply.
- Measure a quantity of water that you are going to use and weigh to get the mass
- Measure the amount of energy required to raise temperature of water by a certain amount of degrees using the circuit.
- Do the appropriate calculations.
3. Recall and use the equation for Specific Heat Capacity
c=E/ m ΔT
and this can be re-arranged to give:
E = m c ΔT
Units in Joules.
