Use the following to answer the question:
-The graph shows the temperature of a 1.0-g sample of material as heat is added to it.The material is initially a solid at 10ºC.The pressure remains constant,and there is no chemical change.The specific heat of the solid phase is
A)0.6 cal/g · Cº
B)0.25 cal/g · Cº
C)1.6 cal/g · Cº
D)1.7 cal/g · Cº
E)None of these is correct.

Question

Use the following to answer the question: 
-The graph shows the temperature of a 1.0-g sample of material as heat is added to it.The material is initially a solid at 10ºC.The pressure remains constant,and there is no chemical change.The specific heat of the solid phase is
A)0.6 cal/g · Cº 
B)0.25 cal/g · Cº 
C)1.6 cal/g · Cº 
D)1.7 cal/g · Cº 
E)None of these is correct.

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

To determine the specific heat of the solid phase, we need to look at the graph and find the slope of the flat portion of the line corresponding to the solid phase. The slope of the flat portion gives us the specific heat of the solid phase. The flat portion of the line in the graph suggests that the solid phase absorbs heat but does not change its temperature until it reaches the melting point. Thus, the specific heat of the solid phase is the slope of this flat portion of the line, which is given by the formula: specific heat = (heat added) / (mass x temperature change). From the graph, we can see that 20 calories of heat are added to raise the temperature of the solid phase from 10ºC to 25ºC. Therefore, the specific heat of the solid phase is (20 cal) / (1.0 g x 15ºC) = 0.25 cal/g · Cº, which is answer choice B.

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