[sidnaythimble]

So on Thursday my Chemistry teacher throws a procedure on the board and tells us to copy it, then perform. He doesn't give us any other information and then says that we need to have a lab report written by Tuesday.

The purpose of the lab was to find out the specific heat of nickel using nickel beads and identifying all the variables in the equation (which we had to figure out ourselves): C_m= - (C_w*m_w*[change]T_w)/(m_m*[change]T_m).

I've got all that, and I've got a title/purpose/procedure, but I can't write a hypothesis. The teacher said my hypothesis should include the words "specific heat" and "the law of conversation of energy".

I have no idea where to go. Please help ASAP.

[mike]

Well what do you think will happen in the experiment?

Your hypothesis can be a guess at what you think will happen and how you think you will test for that.

[sidnaythimble]

I know what a hypothesis is, I just don't know what it should be for this experiment.
I've done the procedure and I know what the specific heat of nickel is because of it. What I don't know is how exactly enthalpy and the law of conservation of energy factor in to the whole thing.

[mike]

Well I guess that you could explain using law of conservation of energy in that the heat energy in the nickel is transfered to the water (ie it is not lost or destroyed), I am making an assumption on the method you used in the lab here.

The specific heat of the nickel is really just the amount of energy required to heat one gram of nickel by one degree C and you are presumably comparing this to the specific heat of water.

The enthalpy change may tell you which way the energy/heat was flowing, ie from nickel to water or from water to nickel.

Does this help at all?