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Topic: Origin of specific heat of water  (Read 2605 times)

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Offline jmarcella

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Origin of specific heat of water
« on: April 18, 2013, 02:20:50 PM »
Hi all,

It's well understood that 4.184 J is the amount of energy required to heat 1 g of water from 14.5C to 15.5C. My question is how was the 4.184 number calculated? One can't just "measure" the enery transfer into a beaker of water, so I'm struggling to understand how the specific heat of water was originally calculated.

Offline Schrödinger

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Re: Origin of specific heat of water
« Reply #1 on: April 18, 2013, 02:44:18 PM »
"Destiny is not a matter of chance; but a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved."
- William Jennings Bryan

Offline Corribus

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Re: Origin of specific heat of water
« Reply #2 on: April 18, 2013, 02:48:21 PM »
What men are poets who can speak of Jupiter if he were like a man, but if he is an immense spinning sphere of methane and ammonia must be silent?  - Richard P. Feynman

Offline jmarcella

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Re: Origin of specific heat of water
« Reply #3 on: April 18, 2013, 03:03:22 PM »
Very helpful. Thanks Schrödinger and Corribus.

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