Physics Laboratory Report
Lab number and Title:
Lab 7: Archimedes' Principle and Density
Name: Jacob Tirado Group ID: 1
Date of Experiment: 10/10/2024 Date of Report Submission: 10/19/2024
Course & Section Number: 103A101 Instructor’s Name: Keitarou Matsumoto
Partners’ Names: Danish Spall,
Slobodan Tortoski, Bobola Aluko
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 OBJECTIVES
1. To determine the heat of fusion of ice using a calorimeter
2. To come to a deeper understanding of the principle of conservation of
energy as it applies to thermal energy.
1.2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
When a material undergoes a change of state, e.g., from solid to liquid or
liquid to gas, the temperature of the material remains constant, while the heat
added during the process produces the phase change. The constant temperature at
which a solid material changes to a liquid is known as its melting point and
the heat per unit mass required in this phase change is known as the heat of
fusion.
In this experiment, ice with a certain temperature TI, lower than 0°C is placed
into a calorimeter containing water with a temperature T0. The ice starts to
increase in temperature from TI, reaches 0°C, melts, turns into water at 0°C,
and then increases in temperature until it reaches a final steady state
temperature TF. If we make the assumption that the calorimeter is thermally
isolated, ie,, no heat is gained or lost to the surroundings, then the total
amount heat which the ice and its melted water gain from its surrounding is
equal to the heat lost by the surrounding consisting of the calorimeter and the
contained water (The temperature of this surrounding drops from T0 to TF due to
the heat loss to the ice). Thus, we have the useful equation.
MIcI(0-TI)+MILF+MIcw(TF-0)= MWcW(T0-TF)+Mccc(T0-TF)
where MI is the mass of ice, cI is the specific heat of ice 0.5 cal/g°C, TI is
the temperature of ice, LF is the heat of fusion of ice, cW is the specific heat
of water 1 cal/g°C. MW is the mass of the water contained in the calorimeter at
temperature T0, and cc is the specific heat of calorimeter material (in this
case, aluminum).
2 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
Variables: CI= 0.5 cal/g°C, CW= 1 cal/g°C, Cc= 0.215 cal/g°C
To start his experiment we first measured the weights of the calorimeter and
stirrer, we then filled the calorimeter with water and calculated its weight.
We took the initial temperature of the water and ice, then placed the ice in
the calorimeter and water closed the lid. We then wait for the temperature of
the container to stabilize and record the temperature.
3 RESULTS
3.1 EXPERIMENTAL DATA (15 points)
Mass of calorimeter inner cup and stirrer Mc = 74.7g
Mass of calorimeter inner cup, stirrer, and water Mc+ Mw = 231.7
Mass of water MW = 157g
Initial temperature of ice TI = -21°C
Initial temperature of water T0 = 33.6°C
Final temperature of water TF = 7.3°C
Mass of calorimeter inner cup, stirrer, water, and ice MC+MW+MI = 282.6g
Mass of ice added to the water MI = 50.9g
3.2 CALCULATION
MIcI(0-TI)+MILF+MIcW(TF-0)= MWcW(T0-TF)+Mccc(T0-TF)
𝑀𝑊𝑐𝑊(𝑇0−𝑇𝐹)+𝑀𝑐𝑐𝑐(𝑇0−𝑇𝐹)−𝑀𝐼𝑐𝑊(𝑇𝐹−0)−𝑀𝑊𝑐𝐼(0−𝑇𝐼)
L F= 𝑀𝐼
LF= 71.62 cal/g
4 ANALYSIS and DISCUSSION
To perform the analysis of this experiment, we used the heat of fusion equation
to understand the relationship between the colder temperature of the ice and
the warm temperature of the water when put together. This allowed us to gain a
better understanding on the process of heat transfer and fusion.
The errors that could have occurred may have been due to incorrect temperature
values taken. The circumstances needed to gather the perfect temperature would
not be able to be taken in the lab setting we were giving resulting in sub-par
temperature data values. With this in mind, the values did not drastically
change the outcome of our calculations, leading to the thought that they were
not huge differences.
The objectives of this lab were to determine the heat of fusion of ice using a
calorimeter and to come to a deeper understanding of the principle of
conservation of energy as it applies to thermal energy. Both of these
objectives were met while due to the experiment, the first was met by
performing the experiment itself and the second was met after the experiment,
which allowed us to gain a deeper understanding of conservation of energy.
Lab Questions:
1. If the initial temperature of the ice cube was 0°C, the calculated LF would
result in LF equaling 48.9 cal/g
2. The error percentage from our calculated heat of fusion result and the
published data is 10.2%. The major source of error was the initial
temperature of ice causing the minor 10% difference.
5 CONCLUSIONS
Throughout the experiment, we learned about thermal energy and how it affects
the different temperatures of substances around it. This was understood through
the experiment, the warm water transferred its energy to the cold ice causing
the two instances to fuse. This resulted in the water and calorimeter to go to
a lower temperature.
Some questions that were raised after performing the experiment were: What are
some real-world situations of thermal energy transfer? Are there any systems
that use ice as a coolant? What other substances can replace the ice, but still
resulting in similar results?
To improve the experiment, a better method of storing and transporting the ice
would allow its temperature to remain more accurate for longer.
6 Attachment of Raw Data
