Christopher Currier

John Emily Dayna Sarah

Mrs. Pickart

Honors Physical Science

3/6/17

Honors Specific Heat Lab

Purpose: To compare the relative specific heat of substances.

Hypothesis: If water, sand, and salt are placed in equal amounts into separate containers and

shaken vigorously for eight minutes, then the sand will show the greatest thermal energy reading.

Materials: 3- 50 ml Empty containers with caps 50g of water

50g of Sand 50g of Salt Thermometer

Methods: 50g samples of salt, sand and water were obtained. Three empty containers were each

filled separately with the 50 grams of sand, salt, and water. The initial temperature of the sand

was measured and recorded in a data table. The container of sand was then taken, and shaken

vigorously for eight minutes straight. The temperature of the sand was then immediately taken

and then recorded in the data table. The same steps were each taken separately with the 50g of

salt and water respectively.

Quantitative Data:
Item: Initial Final Change in Thermal
Temperature Temperature Temperature
(Celsius): (Celsius): (Celsius): Energy:

Salt: 20 degrees 24 4 176.282

Sand: 20 degrees 25 5 207.708

Water: 17 degrees 22 5 1048.218

Calculations:

Conclusion: Water, sand, and salt were placed in equal amounts into separate containers and

shaken vigorously for eight minutes, according to the recorded data, the sand did not possess the

greatest thermal energy reading.

Discussion: The thermal energy was 50g of water was shown to be higher than that of the

samples of salt and sand when shaken vigorously for 8 minutes. Water has a very high specific

heat rate. This means that the water will take the most heat energy to raise its temperature by 1

degree. The very low specific heat of sand is what lead to the hypothesis being formed. It was
thought that this would cause greater heat energy. The results showed that water had the greatest

heat energy when shaken. This was caused by some human error and could have been remedied

if all samples were shaken with the exact same force. The sample of water was found to be

easier to shake, thus having more energy transferred to it. The results were also found to be

caused by the escape of heat energy after the containers were opened after being shaken. This

could have been fixed if the temperature of samples were all measured without opening the

containers. Salt was shown to have a high specific heat, this was found to cause a higher increase

in thermal energy since there was less ‘resistance’ on the heat that was being transferred. Sand

was thought to have had a higher increase in temperature than salt due the fact of its even lower

specific heat capacity. Water on the other hand, showed that it had the greatest specific heat and

was thought to be the sample that would gain the least thermal energy. But according to the

experiment conducted, this was shown to be false. Sand was found to have the highest

temperature change. Thus it can be inferred that sand had the lowest specific heat capacity. Salt

was shown to have the lowest temperature change, so it inferred that the specific heat of salt

would be significantly higher than the other three. Salt was found to have approximately thirty

J/KgxC less than sand at 176.282 J/KgxC. Water was found to be the outlier with a significantly

higher thermal energy of 1,048.218 J/KgxC. The higher changes in temperature were found to

be caused by a lower specific heat capacity in each of the substances. When a person stepped

onto the sand, it felt extremely hot which was caused by the sand’s low specific heat capacity of

830 J/KgxC. The sand was able to absorb more of the sun’s energy. In comparison to the sand,

the water felt much colder due to its specific heat capacity of 4,182 J/KgxC. The water’s higher

specific heat capacity provided a higher resistance to the sun’s energy which was heating

it. Because air flowed from hot to cold during the day, the breeze moved from the hot sand to
the cooler water. At night the air current shifted and now originated from the water that had

warmed all day to the now cooler sand. The water remained hotter than the sand because of its

higher specific heat capacity which decreased the speed at which it lost its thermal energy. The

sand cooled to a lower temperature than the water at night because of its lower specific heat

capacity which caused the wind to shift.