How much heat is absorbed by a 2000 kg granite boulder as energy from the sun causes its temperature to change from 9°C to 23°C?

1 Answer
Jun 25, 2018

Recall,

#q = mC_"s"DeltaT#

Evidently, the professor wants you know the specific heat of granite, or look it up (like I did).

#C_"s" = (0.790"J")/("g"*°"C")# (data)

Hence,

#q = mC_"s"DeltaT approx 2.2*10^7"J" = 2.2*10^4"kJ"#

of heat is absorbed by the granite rock (assuming it's pure granite) from the sun.