Specific Heat

Introduction

Specific heat is defined as the measure of the ability of a substance to change temperature. Specific heat of a substance is the heat needed to change the temperature of 1 gram of a substance once degree Celsius. The more Joules (unit of heat) needed, the higher the specific heat will be. The goal is to determine specific heat of a soil sample as compared to water. This difference has many ramifications regarding our climate, with local and global.

Hypothesis

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I predict that after 10 minutes of being placed under the same heat lamp, the soil will absorb heat faster, therefore ending with a higher temperature than the water.

Materials

• 2 petri dishes
• Soil
• Water
• 2 thermometers
• Heat lamp

1. Procedure
2. Design lab tables.
3. Record mass of petri dish and then add enough soil to fill it to the brim.
4. Record mass again.

The difference is the mass of the soil sample. Record the mass of another petri dish and fill it with water. Record the mass again. The difference is the mass of the water. Place the thermometers so that the bulb of one is beneath the surface of the soil and the bulb of the other is under the water. Place both samples under a heat lamp, making sure the thermometers stay under the samples. Bring the lamp close to the petri dishes so that they are heated equally. Record the temperature of each thermometer every 30 seconds, for 10 minutes. Graph your temperature data on the same set of coordinates.

On the other hand, the water sample increased only 1 degree over the course of 4 minutes. The remaining 6 minutes, the soil leveled out at a temperature of 25 degrees. While the soil continued to heat up at a relatively fast rate, the water made very small increments of progress and eventually made no advancement heating. Conclusion The hypothesis predicting that soil will absorb more heat than the water has been proven correct by the recorded data. My results showed that the temperature of the soil sample increased 2. 5 degrees Celsius, while the water only raised one degree.

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