Calorimetry

Heat: A measurable form of energy

Heat is a form of energy and thus, can be converted into other forms of energy (like mechanical
energy, electrical energy, etc.), and vice versa.

On returning from school, Ravi touched the iron gate leading to his house. He found it to be
extremely hot. Later, he touched other things made of iron present inside his house and found that
they were not hot. Then, he touched other substances (not made of iron) present in his house to
determine whether they were hot or cold. He listed his observations as in the table given below.

Substance Hot/ Cold

Tea Hot

Coffee Hot

Ice Cold

Ice cream Cold

Cooked rice Hot

Frozen meat Cold

Try to make a table listing some other substances that are present in your house, and classify
them as hot or cold. But how do you decide whether a substance is hot or cold? Can you
always tell whether a substance is hot or cold simply by touching it? The following activity
will help you understand better.

Activity:

Take three containers and label them as A, B and C. Take hot water in container A, and cold water
in container C. In container B, mix hot and cold water in equal amounts. Now, place your left hand
in container A and right hand in container C for two minutes. Then, dip both your hands in
container B.
What can you say about the water present in the three containers? Note your observations
in the table given below.

Container Hot/Cold

What is your observation for container B? Is the water in container B hot or cold?

When you dip your hands in container B, your left hand will tell you that the water is cold, while
your right hand will tell you that the water is hot. Thus, you will not be able to distinguish whether
the water present in container B is hot or cold.

From this activity, we can conclude that we cannot decide whether a substance is hot or cold just
by touching it. Thus, we need something more reliable than our sense of touch to decide whether
a substance is hot or cold.

Is heat measurable?

The measure that is used for detecting the degree of hotness of a substance is called
temperature. The more the temperature of a substance, the hotter it will be. The device that is
used for measuring temperature is called a thermometer.

The scales used for measuring temperature can either be degree Celsius or degree Fahrenheit.
There are two types of thermometers: clinical thermometers and laboratory thermometers.

How is temperature a measure of heat?

In the SI system, the unit of temperature is kelvin, whereas the unit of heat is joules. Still
temperature measurement can tell us about the heat energy contained in a body.

Q=mCt

Heat Capacity
The amount of heat required to warm a substance depends on three factors:

Mass of the substance (m)

Change in temperature (t)
Nature of the substance

Heat capacity (S): The change in the temperature (t) of a substance when heat is absorbed or
rejected (Q) by it is characterised by a quantity called the heat capacity.

Specific heat capacity (s) of a substance determines the change in temperature when a given
amount of heat is absorbed or rejected by it.

SI unit is J kg1K1

Molar specific heat (C): When the amount of a substance is specified in moles () instead of
mass

SI unit is J mol1K1

Heat transfer at constant pressure is called molar specific heat capacity at constant pressure (Cp).

Heat transfer at constant volume is called molar specific heat capacity at constant volume (Cv).

The specific heat capacity of water is high, so it is used as a coolant in automobiles.

Calorimeter
A device used for heat measurement is called a calorimeter.
Construction of a Calorimeter

It consists of a metallic vessel and stirrers. They are made of copper or aluminium.
The vessel is kept inside a wooden jacket which contains heat-insulating materials.
The wooden jacket acts as a heat shield, and reduces the heat loss from the inner vessel.
The jacket has an opening through which a mercury thermometer is inserted into the
calorimeter.

Principle of Calorimetry

Calorimetry means measurement of heat. When a body at higher temperature is brought in

contact with a body at lower temperature, the heat lost by the former is equal to the heat gained
by the latter (assuming that no heat is lost to the surroundings).

Determination of Specific Heat by a Calorimeter

Consider a calorimeter of known water equivalent containing water.

Note the initial temperatures of the water and the calorimeter.

Heat the substance whose specific heat is to be determined to a particular temperature.
Put this substance in the calorimeter, and stir the mixture.
The substance at higher temperature will lose heat, which will in turn be gained by the
water and the calorimeter.
Stir the mixture and note the constant temperature.
Weigh the mixture to find the mass of the added substance.

Consider,

m1 = Mass of water

t1 = Initial temperature of the water and the calorimeter

w = Water equivalent of the calorimeter and the stirrer

m2 = Mass of the substance

s = Specific heat of the substance

t2 = Temperature of the substance

t = Common temperature of the mixture

Rise in the temperature of the water and the calorimeter = (t t1)

Fall in the temperature of the substance = (t2 t)

Heat gained by the water and the calorimeter = (m1 + w) (t t1)

Heat lost by the substance = s. m2 (t2 t)

According to calorimetry principle,

(m1 + w) (t t1) = s.m2 (t2 t)

Note

Rise in the temperature of a body may not be equal to the fall in the temperature of another body.

Specific Heat Capacity of Water

Water has the highest specific heat capacity of 4.2 J/gC. In other words, every 1 g of water will
absorb 4.2 J of energy when its temperature rises by 1C.

Advantages of high specific heat capacity of water

This property of water offers certain advantages

1. Formation of land and sea breeze

In the coastal areas sun shines equally on land as well as water. But due to the high specific heat
capacity of water the land gets heated up more quickly and thus forms low pressure area over land
and thus invites cool breeze from sea to take place.

Similarly at night the reverse happens due to quick cooling of the land mass.
 2. Fomentation of body parts

This is a good method to give warmth to body parts as water retains heat for a longer time than
other substances.

3. Coolant in automobiles

4. Internal heating of houses

5. Regulates body temperature

Change of State

When solid changes into liquid state at constant temperature, the melting or fusion takes place
and this temperature is called melting or fusion point.

When liquid changes into vapour state at constant temperature, the boiling or vaporization
takes place and this temperature is called boiling or ebullition point.
When liquid changes into solid state at constant temperature, the solidification or freezing
takes place and this temperature is called solidification or freezing point.

All of these represent a change of state in the body.

Determination of melting point of a solid

This method is only for solids with melting point between 30C and 100C.

1. Take a thin glass test tube of about 15 cm long and fill it with powdered naphthalene.
2. Heat the beaker and start the stop watch.
3. Note down the readings at equal intervals of time.
4. Stop hating and let the beaker cool.
5. Keep noting the readings at equal intervals of time.
6. Plot the graph between time and temperature.

Heating curve

1. AB rise n temperature of solid with the gain of heat energy.

2. BC change in state of solid without any rise in temperature.
3. CD rise in temperature of liquid with gain of heat

Cooling curve

1. EB fall in temperature of liquid with loss of heat

2. BC change in state of liquid without any rise in temperature.
3. CF fall in temperature of solid with the loss of heat energy.
Latent Heat

The latent heat of vaporisation is the amount of heat required to convert a unit mass of a
liquid into its vapour state, without a change in its temperature. Latent heat of vaporisation of
water is 2260 kJ kg-1. This means that 2260 kJ of heat must be provided to convert 1 kg of
water at 100C into 1 kg of vapour at 100C. Conversely, 2260 kJ of heat is released when 1
kg of vapour condenses at 100C to give 1 kg of water at 100C.

It is the amount of heat energy required to change the state of a unit mass of a substance
from solid to liquid, or from liquid to vapour, with a change in temperature. Heat required
during a change of state depends on:

Mass of the substance undergoing change (m)

Heat transformation

Quantity of heat required,

Where,

L Latent heat

SI unit of latent heat is J/kg.

A plot of temperature versus heat energy for a quantity of water is shown in the following
figure.