Today, we learned the measurement of physical changes of heat in a system. We learn a new term: specific heat capacity. The specific heat capacity is a measure of a substance's resistance to temperature change, represented by letter c. It is a variable number that depends on material property. For example, copper has lower heat capacity than water. Thus, when a 30 g of copper that is 500 K enters 30 g of water that is 300 K, the copper will experience greater temperature change than water.
Specific heat capacity is usually used to calculate the amount of thermal energy used to rise the temperature of a system by 1 degree. The following equation can be used when calculating the thermal energy (Q):
Heat capacity: Q = m c ΔT
It is intriguing to see how much material property can affect heat capacity. For example, 50 g of copper with initial temperature of 100 degree Celsius is added to 2000 g of water with initial temperature of 30 degree Celsius. The thermal equilibrium is 30.16 degree Celsius. Water only changed for 0.16 degree Celsius while copper dropped by 69.84 degree Celsius.
Something that confused me is the way to calculate thermal energy when there are 2 things added to water at the same time. How can you calculate the thermal energy in that case? Also, the thermal equilibrium between water and ice cube is confusing. Why does the temperature of ice stay at 0 degree Celsius while water is still at 27 degree? Why are their final temperatures different?
