[url]http://www.ilsitodi.it/laboratoriodifisica/calorespecifico/calorespecifico.html[/url] [b]How to Measure Specific Heat Capacity of a Metal[/b] The [color=#c51414]specific heat capacity[/color], often simply called [color=#c51414]specific heat[/color], refers to the amount of heat ( joule or cal) required to cause a unit of mass (say a gram or a kilogram) to change its temperature by 1°C or 1°K. Standard metric units are Joules/kilogram/Kelvin (J/kg/K). More commonly used units are J/g/°C or cal/g/°C. [list] [*]Add a known mass (mw) of the water, enough to cover metal sample, in the calorimeter[/list] [list] [*]Measure the temperature of the water (tw)[/list] [list] [*]Measure the mass of the metal sample (ms). Metal is heated in a bunsen hot water bath[/list] [list] [*]Record the temperature (ts) of the hot metal. (it is the same as the hot water) [/list] [list] [*]Use the tongs to carefully pick up the metal sample and transfer it QUICKLY to the calorimeter and watch the temperature - stirring a little until it stabilizes. [/list] [list] [*]Record the stable temperature (tc). [/list] Do the math The specific heat of he material under investigation is given by: mw/ms * (tc-tw)/(ts-tc)