PHYSICS LABORATORY
Measuring the specific heat capacity of water
Interactive simulation
EXPERIMENT 01 / THERMODYNAMICS
How is energy converted into heat?
Connect the transformer, wattmeter, and thermometer; monitor the water heating up to determine the specific heat capacity from the measured data.
FORMULA
c = P · Δt / m · ΔT
m in kg · P in W
01
Sẵn sàng
Lab bench
POWER TRANSFORMER
WATTMETER / METER
60W00:00
CALORIMETER
ELECTRONIC SCALE
500g
°C
25.0
Water
Heating element
Thermometer
Water temperature25.0 °C
Heating time00:00
Power60 W
02
0 measurement points
Data Table
| Time (s) | Temperature (°C) | Power (W) | Note |
|---|
Turn on the power to start recording temperature milestones.
03
Water temperature
Temperature vs. Time Graph
Turn on the power to start plotting the graph.
06
Read results like a physicist
Supplied Energy
The heating element transfers energy Q = P·Δt into the water. Power P indicates how many joules are supplied per second.
Specific Heat Capacity
c indicates how much energy is needed to increase the temperature of 1 kg of water by 1 K. Water has a theoretical c of approximately 4186 J/(kg·K).
Why is there an error?
In practice, heat loss to the environment and equipment may cause measurement results to deviate from theory.