Alaboratory technician drops a 72.0 g sample of unknown solid material, at a temperature of 80.0°c, into a calorimeter. the calorimeter can, initially at 11.0°c, is made of 187 g of copper and contains 203 g of water. the final temperature of the calorimeter can and contents is 39.4°c. what is the specific heat of the unknown sample? give your answer in units of j/kg.°c.

Answer : The specific heat of unknown sample is,

Explanation :

In this problem we assumed that heat given by the hot body is equal to the heat taken by the cold body.

where,

= specific heat of unknown sample = ?

= specific heat of water =

= specific heat of copper =

= mass of unknown sample = 72.0 g  = 0.072 kg

= mass of water = 203 g  = 0.203 kg

= mass of copper = 187 g  = 0.187 kg

= final temperature of calorimeter =

= initial temperature of unknown sample =

= initial temperature of water and copper =

Now put all the given values in the above formula, we get

Therefore, the specific heat of unknown sample is,