Before landing, the brakes and the tires of an airliner have a temperature of 15.0∘C. Upon landing, the 90.7 kg carbon fiber brakes of an airliner heat up to 312∘C. As the brakes start to cool down, the heat is absorbed by the 123 kg rubber tires. What is the specific heat of the tires if the final temperature of both the brakes and the tires at thermal equilibrium is 172∘C?

Recall that the First Law of Thermodynamics demands that the total internal energy of an isolated system must remain constant. Any amount of energy lost by the brakes must be gained by the tires (in the form of heat in this situation). Therefore, heat given off by the brakes = −heat taken in by tires, or:

−qbrakes=qtires

The equation used to calculate the quantity of heat energy exchanged in this process is:

−qbrakes=−cbrakes mbrakes ΔTbrakes=ctires mtires ΔTtires=qtires

First we must convert the mass of the tires and the brakes from kg to g.

massbrakes=90.7 kg×1,000. g1 kg=9.07×104 g

masstires=123 kg×1,000. g1 kg=1.23×105 g

Next, substitute in known values and rearrange to solve for ctires. Note that the final temperature for both the tires and the brakes is 172∘C, the initial temperature of the brakes is 312∘C and the initial temperature of the tires is 15∘C.

−(1.400Jg∘C)(9.07×104 g)(172∘C−312∘C)=(ctires)(1.23×105 g)(172∘C−15∘C)

ctires=−(1.400 Jg∘C)(9.07×104 g)(−140∘C)(1.23×105 g)(157∘C)=17,777,200 J19311000 g∘C=0.9206Jg∘C

The answer should have three significant figures, so round to 0.921Jg∘C.