Specific Heat PreLab - Honors Chemistry

Procedure
As you perform this experiment, record your data in the data table.
Lead is a toxic metal. Wash
your hands thoroughly after
use!
1. Add about 250 mL of tap water to a 400 mL beaker. Place the beaker on a wire gauze on a ring
clamp. Use a gas burner to bring the water to a boil. While the water is boiling, proceed to step 2.
2. Determine the mass of a clean, dry 50 mL beaker to the nearest 0.01 g. Add about 80 grams of
lead shot (Pb) to the beaker. Record the combined mass of the shot and the beaker to the nearest
0.01 g.
3. Construct a paper funnel to carefully transfer the lead shot to the dry test tube. Be careful to add
the shot to the test tube gently so you don’t break the test tube. Suspend the test tube into the
boiling water by using a utility clamp. Be sure the lead shot is below the water level in the beaker.
Leave the test tube in the boiling water for at least 10 minutes. Proceed to step 4 while the lead
shot is heating.
4. Carefully measure out 100 mL of distilled water in a graduated
cylinder and record the actual mass that you used. Pour into a
Styrofoam cup. Place the cup into a 250 mL beaker for
stability.
Be sure to record your
temperatures to the correct
number of significant digits!
toxic metal. Wash your
hands thoroughly after use!
5. After the shot has been heating for at least 10 minutes, record the temperatures of the water in the
Styrofoam cup and the boiling water in the beaker. (We will assume that the Pb shot is now the
same temperature as the boiling water.) These temperatures are the initial temperatures for the
water and the lead.
6. Remove the test tube from the bath, using the clamp as a holder. Carefully, but quickly, pour the
lead shot into the water that is in the Styrofoam cup. Place the thermometer and a stir rod into the
cup. Gently stir with the stirring rod (NOT
the thermometer) and record the highest
temperature the of Pb-water mixture.
7. Drain the water off the shot and return to
your teacher to be dried.
8. Repeat for trial 2.
9. Carefully dry your glassware for the next
class.