4A.11

[Chris Tai 1B]

A calorimeter was calibrated with an electric heater, which supplied 22.5 kJ of energy as heat to the calorimeter and increased the temperature of the calorimeter and its water bath from 22.45 8C to 23.97 8C. What is the heat capacity of the calorimeter?

The equation q = nCdeltaT seems especially relevant here; do we just get rid of the n or mass term and solve for C given deltaT and q? If so, why?

[Benjamin Feng 1B]

In this case, heat capacity is only defined by energy put in vs change in temperature, q/T. This is different from specific heat, which includes units for mass. The amount of substance matters.

[Sarah Zhari 1D]

I think that because you are not required to calculate the specific heat capacity, and instead are only asked for heat capacity, mass or number of moles are not needed.

[AysiaB1I]

I'm doing this one right now and I think you only have to use the equation C = q / delta T

[Uisa_Manumaleuna_3E]

for calorimeters we're usually just worried about the heat capacity, q / delta t, so you don't have to worry about any other formulas like that. Calorimeters are nice because usually we have a ton of info to plug in with other systems and whatnot, but calorimeters are literally just simple specific heat.

[Pegah Nasseri 1K]

Heat capacity (C) is used in the equation Q = C*delta T and represents the heat energy needed to raise the temperature of something by one degree. Molar heat capacity is used in the equation Q = n*C*delta T and is the amount of heat energy it takes to raise 1 mol of something by 1 Kelvin. Specific heat is the amount of heat energy it takes to raise 1 g of something by 1 degrees Celsius and is used in the equation Q = m*C*delta T. For this problem, it asks you for the heat capacity so you do not need to take the moles or grams into account and can just plug in the values given into the equation and solve for heat capacity: C = Q / (delta T).