Question

1. a 10.0 g sample of silver is heated to 100.0°c and then added to 5.0 g of water at 20.0°c in an insulated calorimeter. if the specific heat of silver is 0.22 j/(g°c) and the specific heat of water is 4.184 j/(g°c), which of the following temperatures is the most likely final temperature once the system has reached thermal equilibrium? (no math is required for this question)

a. 100°c
b. 90°c
c. 60°c
d. 30°c
e. 20°c

Explanation:

• Silver has a low specific heat capacity (\(0.22\frac{J}{g^{\circ}C}\)) compared to water (\(4.184\frac{J}{g^{\circ}C}\)).
• The mass of silver (\(10.0g\)) is not enough to significantly raise the temperature of water (\(5.0g\)) to a high value like \(60^{\circ}C\), \(90^{\circ}C\) or \(100^{\circ}C\) as water requires a large amount of heat to change its temperature.
• Also, the final temperature cannot be \(20^{\circ}C\) (E) because silver is hot (\(100^{\circ}C\)) and will transfer some heat to water.

Answer:

D. \(30^{\circ}C\)