Boil water in a kettle. Pour some of the water into a sealable container to a safe level. Measure the mass of the container
Use a thermometer to measure the initial temperature of the water
Seal the container and leave it for 5 minutes. Measure this time using a stopwatch
Remove the lid and measure the final temperature of the water
Pour away the water and allow the container to cool at room temperature
Repeat this experiment - but wrap the container in a different material each time
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Investigating Specific Heat Capacity
To investigate a solid material, you'll need a block of the material with two in it
Measure the mass of the block, then wrap it in an insulating material to reduce the energy being transferred from the block to the surrounding. Insert the thermometer and heater
Measure the initial temperature of the block and set the potential difference of the power supply to 10V. Turn on the power supply and start the stopwatch
When you turn on the power, the current in the circuit does work on the heater, transferring energy electrically to the heaters thermal energy store. This energy is then transferred to the tp the materials thermal energy store by heating - this causes the increase in temperature
As the block heats up, take readings of the temperature and current every 5 minutes - the current should not change as the block heats up.
When you've collected enough readings, turn off the power supply. sing our values for current and voltage (p.d) calculate the power supplied to the heater. Then use this to calculate how much energy has been transferred at each time.
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