A hot metal sample is lowered into cooler water contained in an insulated coffee-cup…
PHYSICS · Single correct · CBSE · Physics · Thermal Properties of Matter · Thermal Properties of Matter
Problem
A hot metal sample is lowered into cooler water contained in an insulated coffee-cup calorimeter. The experimenter equates the heat lost by the metal to the heat gained by the water. Which statement best justifies this equality?
(a) Because the final temperatures of the metal and the water become identical, the heat changes for each substance must also be identical.
(b) Since the specific heat capacity of liquid water is larger than that of the metal, it necessarily absorbs all of the heat released, making the energy changes equal.
(c) Energy lost by the metal is equal in magnitude to the energy gained by the surroundings because the calorimeter approximates an isolated system.
(d) Equal masses of metal and water are present, so the heat lost by the metal must equal the heat gained by the water.