Question #5dc43

1 Answer
Mar 20, 2016

"0.015 kg Al"

Explanation:

The key to this problem is aluminium's specific heat, which tells you how much heat is needed to increase the temperature of "1 g" of aluminium by 1^@"C".

Aluminium's specific heat is said to be equal to "0.897 J g"^(-1)""^@"C"^(-1). This tells you that in order to increase the temperature of "1 g" of aluminium by 1^@"C", you need to supply it with "0.897 J" of heat.

Now, let's assume that your sample has a mass of "1 g". In order to increase its temperature by

DeltaT = 187^@"C" - 65^@"C" = 122^@"C"

you would need to provide it with 122 times more heat than what would be needed to increase its temperature by 1^@"C".

More specifically, you would need to provide it with

122color(red)(cancel(color(black)(""^@"C"))) * overbrace("0.897 J"/(1color(red)(cancel(color(black)(""^@"C")))))^(color(purple)("heat needed for"color(white)(a)1^@"C"color(white)(a) "increase for 1 g of Al")) = "109.434 J"

However, you end up adding "1650 J" of heat to this sample, which of course means that its mass is not equal to "1 g".

The ratio between the heat added to the sample to get its temperature to increase by 122^@"C" and the heat that would be needed to increase the temperature of "1 g" of aluminium by 122^@"C" will give you the mass of the sample, expressed in grams

1650color(red)(cancel(color(black)("J"))) * overbrace("1 g"/(109.434color(red)(cancel(color(black)("J")))))^(color(purple)("heat needed for"color(white)(a) 122^@"C" color(white)(a)"increase for 1 g of Al")) = "15.08 g"

Expressed in kilograms and rounded to two sig figs, the answer will be

color(purple)(|bar(ul(color(white)(a/a)color(black)("1 kg" 1= 10^3"g")color(white)(a/a)|)))

"mass of Al" = color(green)(|bar(ul(color(white)(a/a)"0.015 kg"color(white)(a/a)|)))

ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION

You can get the same result by using the formula

color(blue)(|bar(ul(color(white)(a/a)q = m * c * DeltaTcolor(white)(a/a)|)))" ", where

q - the amount of heat added
m - the mass of the sample
c - the specific heat of the substance
DeltaT - the change in temperature

Rearrange to solve for m

q = m * c * DeltaT implies m = q/(c * DeltaT)

Plug in your values to get

m = (1650 color(red)(cancel(color(black)("J"))))/(0.897color(red)(cancel(color(black)("J"))) "g" color(red)(cancel(color(black)(""^@"C"^(-1)))) * (187 - 65)color(red)(cancel(color(black)(""^@"C"))))

m = "15.08 g"

Once again, you'll have

"mass of Al" = color(green)(|bar(ul(color(white)(a/a)"0.015 kg"color(white)(a/a)|)))