2/24 Basics of Thermodynamics and Water Heating Lab

This graph was a result of our experiment with cooling water over a longer period of time

We were asked to calculate the final temperature of the copper rod which is the point at which the 2 metals join.

We estimated the temperature in the classroom and found the uncertainty of our temperatures

After the experiment on mixing hot and cold water, we were asked to find the temperature at which the 2 liquids would result at.

The red marker was what we thought caused the loss of temperature during the experiment with the aluminum can. The blue marker is our calculations of what should have been the temperature of the aluminum can had we been in a perfectly insulated environment.

This was the experiment where we used water in a cup to cool down water in an aluminum can and graphed the results of the change in temperature of both the cold and hot water over a long period of time.

The three pictures above are the calculations for the uncertainty for the calculated specific heat of the aluminum can. From our experiment, we calculated that the specific heat of the aluminum is 16 J/g/K. The actual specific heat of aluminum is 0.9 J/g/K. Since we were not in a perfectly isolated environment, the results were going to be off due to the heat being dispersed into the atmosphere or something of that nature. Because of this, our uncertainty is fairly high to compensate for the lack of a perfectly isolated environment, making our answer 16 + 28 J/g/K.

Summary:
Even though it was the first day of class, we did not go over the syllabus and went straight into the lesson. Groups of 4 immediately had to work as a team to solve questions and brainstorm on the topic at hand. The way the class is taught is very different from the typical science class and most of the students in the class seem to like this unorthodox method of teaching.