The starship enterprise is caught in a time warp and spock is forced to use the primitive techniques of the 20th century to determine the specific heat capacity of an unknown mineral. the 307-g sample was heated to 98.7°c and placed into a calorimeter containing 72.4 g of water at 23.6°c. the heat capacity of the calorimeter was 15.7 j/k. the final temperature in the calorimeter was 32.4°c. what is the specific heat capacity of the mineral?

Answer : The specific heat capacity of the mineral is

Explanation :

In this problem we assumed that heat given by the hot body is equal to the heat taken by the cold body.

where,

= specific heat of unknown mineral = ?

= specific heat of water =

= mass of unknown mineral = 307 g

= mass of water = 72.4 g

= final temperature of calorimeter =

= initial temperature of unknown mineral =

= initial temperature of water =

Now put all the given values in the above formula, we get

Therefore, the specific heat capacity of the mineral is