It takes 770 joules energy to raise the temperature of 50.0 g of mercury by 110°C. What is the specific heat of mercury?

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Answer 1 · 2016-04-11T01:00:59

The specific heat capacity of mercury is $"0.140 J·°C"^"-1""g"^"-1"$ .

The formula for the heat absorbed by a substance is

$color(blue)(|bar(ul(color(white)(a/a) q = mcΔT color(white)(a/a)|)))" "$

where

$q$ is the quantity of heat

$m$ is the mass of the substance

$c$ is the specific heat capacity of the material

$ΔT$ is the temperature change

You can rearrange the formula to calculate the specific heat capacity:

$c = q/(mΔT)$

$c = "770 J"/"50.0 g × 110 °C" = "0.140 J·°C"^"-1""g"^"-1"$