Question

5. How can you describe the specific heat of olive oil if it takes approximately 420 J of heat to raise the
temperature of 7 g of olive oil by 30°C?
Not enough information is given.
greater than the specific heat of water
c. less than the specific heat of water
equal to the specific heat of water

Answer 1

Answer:

Lower than the specific heat capacity of water

Explanation:

Specific heat capacity of a material is defined as the amount of heat needed to raise 1 g of that substance by $1^oC$. Specific heat capacity is typically used in the equation which relates heat transfered to the product of specific heat capacity, mass and change in temperature, given by:

$Q = cm\Delta T$

In this problem:

$Q = 420 J$

$m = 7 g$

$\Delta T = 30^oC$

We may simply rearrange this equation for specific heat, c, in order to solve for its value:

$c = \frac{Q}{m\Delta T} = \frac{420 J}{7 g\cdot 30^oC} = 2 \frac{J}{g^oC}$

We know that the specific heat capacity of water is:

$c_w = 4.184 \frac{J}{g^oC}$

The value we obtained is lower than the specific heat capacity of olive oil.