Calorimetry 1
The purpose of this experiment is to identify the mystery metal given to us (metal A). We are going to identify the mystery metal by looking at both its physical properties as well as its heat capacity. The heat capacity of the metal will be calculated using a setup/method described below. We will also look at the physical properties of the metal such as its magnetic properties, density, whether it is lustrous or dull, etc. by observation.
Our mystery metal is not very lustrous and non-magnetic as it is not attracted to or repelled by the permanent magnet. We also measured the mass and dimensions of the mystery cylindrical metal. The metal has a radius of 1.05cm and a height of 3.2cm, while it has a mass of 79.7grams ± 0.5g.
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This can have significant effect since the thermal conductivity of metals are much higher than that of water. The heat dissipating from the hot metal will most likely be conducted by the metal surrounding the insulator due to a higher thermal conductivity. By elevating the metal via the string and the retort stand we can minimise the effects since the metal won’t be touching the bottom of the insulating container and be entirely surrounded by water.
Another source of error would be the transferring of the mystery metal from the hot water to the insulating container. While transferring the mystery metal there were a lot of droplets of water that would be extra mass of water placed in the calorimeter that wasn't accounted for. This would effects our results when carrying out calculations to determine specific heat capacity. To overcome this error, we would have to quickly dry the metal but ensuring that the temperature cooling is small that has negligible effects.
Biggest source of error in calorimetry experiments is that heat dissipates to the surrounding area, this could be while transferring the hot metal or during the actual transfer of heat energy from the metal to the
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This metal is Zinc. Zinc has the same physical properties as our mystery metal; it is non-magnetic and it is not lustrous. Zinc has a heat capacity of 376.812 J/kg-Co[1] which is well within the range of uncertainty of our specific heat capacity of (395.0141332 J/Kg Co ± 99.03469293 J/Kg Co). We calculated the percentage deviation; [Abs (395.0141332 J/Kg C - 376.812 J/kg-Co[1] ) / (99.03469293 J/Kg Co)]*100 = 18.37955232%, and it is 18. 38%, which is small enough for us to consider Zinc as our mystery metal. At the same the density of Zinc is 7.140[2] g/cm3, and again this value falls within our uncertainty range as the calculated density is 7.190844084g/cm3 ± 0.1072655086g/cm3. The percentage deviation of the density is 47.40021741%, as this deviation is less than 100%, it is safe to say that zinc on the bases of density could be our mystery metal. As zinc’s physical properties match that of our mystery metal and both its heat capacity and density values fall within our calculated values, we can confidently conclude that Zinc is our mystery