How much energy is needed to raise the temperature of 2.0 g of water by 5.0°C?

1 Answer
Jacob
Jun 7, 2017

#41.8J#

Explanation:

The equation for working out the amount of thermal energy required is #q = mcDeltaT#, where #q# is the amount of energy, #m# is the mass being heated up in grams, #c# is the specific heat capacity of what you're heating up in joules per gram per kelvin, and #DeltaT# is the change in temperature in degrees Celsius or Kelvin (technically it should be in Kelvin but for a change in temperature, Celsius is the same as Kelvin).
In this case, the mass is 2.0g, the specific heat capacity of water is 4.18J/g/K, and the change in temperature is #5.0°C = 5K#, therefore the energy needed to raise it is: #5xx2xx4.18 = 41.8J#.
This is only theoretical though, in the real world a lot of heat would be lost to the surroundings, so it would require more energy than this.

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