Specific heat capacity

• Step 1

  Choose the material, e.g a copper or aluminium block + measure mass in kg (if water measure mass of beaker 1st than subtract this from overall mass)
• Step 2

  Wrap insulation around your block or beaker
• Step 3

  Smear petroleum jelly around the bulb end of the thermometer (don't do this is measure water) then put put thermometer in small hole in block (or water)
• Step 4

  Measure starting temperature using thermometer
• Step 5

  Put a heater in the larger hole in the block. Connect the ammeter, power pack, and heater in series.
• Step 6

  connect voltmeter across the power pact
• step 7

  Turn the power pack to 12V + switch it on. Start stopwatch as you turn on the power pack.
• Step 8

  Record the ammeter and voltmeter readings every 60 seconds. Record the temperature of the metal block/ water every 60s, if water stir regularly
• Step 9

  After 10 minutes, turn off the power pack
• Step 10

  Keep the thermometer in the metal block (or water) for a while. Record the maximum temperature
• Step 11

  Calculate the power of the heater + record in table (using the equation power (W) = potential difference (V) x current (A). Then calculate the energy transferred up to each time point ( using the equation Energy transferred (J) = power (W) x time (s)
• Step 12 (final step)

  Plot results on graph with temperature change (C) on y-ax and energy transferred (J) on x-axis