Joule Equivalent of Electrical Energy E mily A.

Gatl in P a rt ne r: Whit ne y Hea sto n Date P e rfo rme d:

18 Feb rua ry 2009 25 Feb rua ry 2009 Jo hn C a rut h 1

OBJECTIVE

The primary goal of this experiment is to show how the concept of heat energy relates to electrical
energy. It furthers the understanding of calorimetry through measuring the electrical energy and
calculating the Joule equivalent of electrical energy.

INTRODUCTION

The theory of heat energy measured in quantities separately defined from the laws of mechanics and
electricity and magnetism. Sir James Joule studies of these separate phenomena lead him to the
discovery of the proportionality constant known as the Joule equivalent of heat, denoted by J. The Joule
equivalent of heat is the amount of mechanical or electrical energy within a unit of heat energy. (1.1)
Power is the rate of performing work and electrical power is the amount of electrical energy expanded
over time. Since in an electrical circuit, the energy Electrical and mechanical energy are measure in units
of joules, but heat energy uses the measurement units of kilocalories. (1.2) The change in the heat
energy of a material Q is directly proportional to the change in temperature of the material Q T  ,
which also depend on the material and its specific heat. The transfer of electrical energy to heat energy
equals if (1.3) If a constant current flows through a resistive heating element, producing a constant
maintained potential drop V across the element. This energy expanded into heat energy will increase its
container and its constituents’ temperature. Thus, the change in heat energy of the container and water
will be the sum of the heat energies of each as shown in the equation below. Joule equivalent of heat or
the machanical energy equivalent of heat = 4186 Joule/kilocalorie J J W J Q            
   W Q V W Q P V t t P V I        W P t W V I t Emily Gatlin Joule Equivalent of Electrical
Energy 2 (1.4)

PROCEDURE

APPARATUS

The apparatus contains a resistive heating-coil, stirrer, and electrical connector posts, double-wall
aluminum calorimeter, low voltage, high current power supply, digital voltmeter and ammeter, electrical
leads, digital multimeter, and Pasco® 750 Science Workshop data acquisition system with temperature
sensor.

DATA ACQUISITION

In order to obtain the data, the DataStudio™ software is set up to use the temperature sensor on the
apparatus to collect systematically the temperatures at specified time interval of 5-seconds. After the
computer is completely set-up, the rest of the apparatus is assembled. Water is added to the
calorimeter until it is about 2-inches away from being completely full. In order to lower the temperature
of the water, a few ice cubes are added. Once the ice is completely melted, the calorimeter is carefully
placed into the apparatus to ensure that they heating-coil and temperature probe do not touch. The
voltage is set to a constant amount of approximately 6-volts. The voltmeter is wired directly to the
heating coil assembly and is used to gain an accurate measurement of voltage between the two ends of
the heatingcoil. The computer is now ready to collect the data. While the data is recorded into the
computer directly from the temperature probe, the stirrer rod is constantly moved up and down to stir
the water as it is heated. This ensures that all the water and its container will come into thermal
equilibrium with each other. The data acquisition stops automatically after ten-minutes. The results are
graphed in the plot, temperature                     where mass of water; mass of
container 1 c c w w w c c c w w c c w w Q m c T m c T m m VI t J m c T m c T VI J m c m c T t Emily Gatlin
Joule Equivalent of Electrical Energy 3 %Error 15.0826886214% vs. time. The DataStudio™ software
also allows the direct plotting of the temperature vs. time graph and the calculation of the slope in the
form    y mx b        c c w w VI J T m c m c t I m t (1.5) The entire experiment is repeated
using 8-volts from the power source instead of 6-volts.

DATA & CALCULATIONS DATA SET #1

Mass of container and Water 278.0grams mcw Mass of Container 42.00 grams mc Mass of Water
236.0 grams m w Specific Heat of Water  kg oC kcal 1.0 w c Specific Heat of Aluminum  kg oC kcal
0.21 c c Voltage Drop Across Heater Coil 6.1 voltsV Current Flowing in Heater Coil 4.82 CI Slope of
Temperature versus Time        5 0.025 6.5 10 T m t Joule Equivalent of Heat  Joules kcal J
4792.37602853 Joules kcal J 4817.36134569 % Error U sing eq uat io n (1. 5)                
                      5 kg kg C C o oC seconds o 6.1 volts 4.82 C kcal kcal 0.042 kg 0.21
0.236 kg 1.0 0.025 6.5 10 29.402 v C 0.00882 kcal C 0.236 kcal C 0.024935 29.408 v C 0.24482 kcal C
0.024 c c w w VI J T m c m c t J J J        second Joules kcal kcal second Joules kcal 935 29.408 v C
4817.36134569 0.0061045867 4817.36134569 C J J     Joules Joules kcal kcal Joules kcal Theoretical
Value Measured Value % Error = ×100 Theoretical Value 4186 4792.37602852 % Error = 100 4186 %Error
14.4858105236% %Error 14.4858105236% Emily Gatlin Joule Equivalent of Electrical Energy 4 DATA
SET #2 Mass of Container and Water 291.0 grams mcw Mass of Container 42.0 grams mc Mass of
Water 249 grams mw Specific Heat of Water  o kcal 1.0 kg C w c Specific Heat of Aluminum  o kcal
0.21kg C c c Voltage Drop Across Heater Coil V 8.0 volts  Current Flowing In Heater Coil 6.38 AmpsI
Slope of Temper       4 0.0416 1.0 10 T t Joule equivalent of Heat  Joules kcal J 4757.69224409
Joules kcal J 4759.98014611 % Error %Error 13.6572% %Error 13.7119%     Joules Joules kcal
kcal Joules kcal Theoretical Value Measured Value % Error = ×100 Theoretical Value 4186
4817.36134569 % Error = 100 4186 %Error 15.0826886214%                          
            5 kg kg C C o oC seconds o 6.1 volts 4.82 C kcal kcal 0.042 kg 0.21 0.236 kg 1.0 0.025
6.5 10 29.402 v C 0.00882 kcal C 0.236 kcal C 0.025065 29.408 v C 0.24482 kcal C 0.025 c c w w VI J T m c
m c t J J J       second Joules kcal kcal second 065 29.408 v C 4792.37602853 0.0061364133 C J
Emily Gatlin Joule Equivalent of Electrical Energy 5 The error within the experiment could stem from
multiple sources. For example, the minute presence of ice not completely melted might have been
present when the experiment begins. This would cause a much cooler temperature than expected at the
specified voltages and current readings. Additionally, the mass of the water and container might be
skewed due to the presence of ice. Ice is less dense than liquid water and this would cause disparity in
the data used to calculate the joule equivalent of electrical energy using equation(1.5). Additionally, the
water within the calorimeter might still not possess a uniform temperature due to the stirring, which
would also produce error within the data.                                      
5 kg kg C C o oC seconds o 8.0 volts 6.38 Amp kcal kcal 0.042 kg 0.21 0.249 kg 1.0 0.0416 1 10 51.04 v A
0.00882 kcal C 0.249 kcal C 0.04161 51.04 v A 0.25782 kcal C 0.041 c c w w VI J T m c m c t J J J      
second Joules kcal kcal second 61 51.04 v C 4757.69224409 0.107278902 C J     Joules Joules kcal
kcal Joules kcal Theoretical Value Measured Value % Error = ×100 Theoretical Value 4186 4757.69 %
Error = 100 4186 %Error 13.6572%                                       5 kg kg
C C o oC seconds o 8.0 volts 6.38 Amp kcal kcal 0.042 kg 0.21 0.249 kg 1.0 0.0416 1 10 51.04 v A 0.00882
kcal C 0.249 kcal C 0.04159 51.04 v A 0.25782 kcal C 0.041 c c w w VI J T m c m c t J J J        second
Joules kcal kcal second Joules kcal 59 51.04 v C 4759.98014611 0.0109887338 4759.98014611 C J J   
 Joules Joules kcal kcal Joules kcal Theoretical Value Measured Value % Error = ×100 Theoretical Value
4186 4759.98 % Error = 100 4186 %Error 13.7119% Emily Gatlin Joule Equivalent of Electrical Energy 6
CONCLUSION

This experiment demonstrated the relationship between the equivalence of electrical energy and heat
energy using calorimetry to show a method to measure electrical energy. Since the formation of the
concept of electrical energy revolved around the principles of mechanical energy, the correlation of
electrical energy to these principles remains a crucial relationship to understanding electrical energy.
Equation(1.3) shows the direct correlation of these fundamental principles to each other. In this
experiment, the joule electrical equivalent of energy is calculated using the slope of the temperature
versus time curve. This plot of the temperature versus time curve shows the direct linear relationship
associated with the joule electrical equivalent of energy. This correlation is shown in Equation(1.5).
Thus, this experiment uses the key concepts behind calorimetry in order to explain its correlation to the
joule electrical equivalent of energy as seen in Equation(1.4). The error present in the experiment still
demonstrated the concepts effectively and allowed for a calculation of the joule equivalent of electrical
energy.