Specific Heat of Brass - Interactive 3D Simulation

This is a student or teacher controlled, realistic 3d simulation of an experiment that allows you to measure the specific heat of brass. The specific heat of a substance is the amount of heat it can hold per unit mass. In this experiment we place a brass weight in boiling water. When the weight is in the boiling water it is gaining heat energy. After about four or five minutes it will be heated evenly to the temperature of the water.
The brass weight can then be moved to the water in the calorimeter. It will then heat the water and the calorimeter.
Knowing the specific heat of the water and calorimeter and the maximum temperature attained by them allows you to calculate the heat gained by them. This amount of heat gained must be the same as the amount of heat lost by the brass. This enables the specific heat of brass to be calculated.

The user can move the weight from the heated water to the calorimter, he/she can control the shaker. The user is free to move anywhere within the laboratory in order to interact with the apparatus.

You can try one of the simulations from our website. Instructions are viewable within the simulation.

The simulation is perfect for demonstrating this experiment in front of the class but can also be used by students in a variety of ways:

• Directly to prepare for a laboratory experiment by familiarising them with the equipment to be used and the methodology of the experiment.

• As revision for an experiment that has previously been performed in the laboratory.

• For home-learning where there is no access to a laboratory.

• To make up for an experiment missed due to sickness.

• As a personal experience of an experiment normally only performed by the teacher in front of the class.

Downloads comprise a Powerpoint giving full instructions including a video, background on the Physics and a zip file containing the simulation application.

The Virtual Physics Laboratory of which this simulation is a part, has the Association for Science Education’s Green Tick of Approval. More information can be found on our website.

I’ve found your software very useful when a concept comes up with pupils and I have to demonstrate something really quickly without having the time to set up a formal experiment for them. The graphics are great and I really like the ability to move around the classroom and observe the experiment from different aspects. I am far more likely to go to one of your interactive experiments if it’s demonstrating something that we don’t have equipment for.“

Andrew McPhee Wellington School

Licence
This product is for a single user and is for personal and classroom use only. Copying any part of this resource is forbidden and violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Whilst efforts will be made to maintain third party links to sit