OBJECT: To make an experimental determination of the mechanical equivalent of heat using a continuous flow calorimeter.
METHOD: A stream of water flowing through a glass tube is heated by an electric current passing through a heating element contained in the tube. The temperature difference between the water entering and leaving the tube depends upon the amount of energy supplied per unit time to the heating element (power input) and upon the mass of water flowing through the tube per unit time. A uniform rate of flow of water is maintained and several determinations of the temperature difference are made for corresponding values of the power input. From the measured rate of flow and the slope of a graph of power input versus temperature difference, the value of the mechanical equivalent of heat is determined.
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Learning standards covered by this activity:
Major Understanding
- 4.1a All energy transfers are governed by the law of conservation of energy.
- 4.1c Potential energy is the energy an object possesses by virtue of its position or condition. Types of potential energy include gravitational and elastic.
- 4.1d Kinetic energy is the energy an object possesses by virtue of its motion.
- 4.1e In an ideal mechanical system, the sum of the macroscopic kinetic and potential energies (mechanical energy) is constant.
- 4.1f In a non-ideal mechanical system, as mechanical energy decreases there is a corresponding increase in other energies such as internal energy.
- 4.1g When work is done on or by a system, there is a change in the total energy of the system.
Process Skill
- 4.1 i Describe and explain the exchange among potential energy, kinetic energy, and internal energy for simple mechanical systems, such as a pendulum, a roller coaster, a spring, a freely falling object
The above learning standards were taken from the Core Curriculum Physical Setting/Physics, The University of the State of New York, The State Education Department.
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