Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
Emily A. Gatlin
P a rt ne r: W h i t ne y He a s t o n
D a t e P e r fo rm e d : 1 8 F e b r u a ry 20 0 9
2 5 F e b r u a ry 2 0 0 9
J o h n C a ru t h
OBJ ECTI VE
The primary goal of this experiment is to show how the concept of heat energy relates to electrical
energy. It furthers the understanding of calorimetry through measuring the electrical energy and
INTRO DUCTI ON
The theory of heat energy measured in quantities separately defined from the laws of mechanics and
electricity and magnetism. Sir James Joule studies of these separate phenomena lead him to the discovery
of the proportionality constant known as the Joule equivalent of heat, denoted by J. The Joule equivalent
energy expanded over time. Since in an electrical circuit, the energy Electrical and P V I
mechanical energy are measure in units of joules, but heat energy uses the measurement units of
W P t
kilocalories. (1.2)
W V I t
The change in the heat energy of a material Q is directly proportional to the change in temperature of
the material Q T , which also depend on the material and its specific heat. The transfer of
If a constant current flows through a resistive heating element, producing a constant maintained potential
drop V across the element. This energy expanded into heat energy will increase its container and its
constituents’ temperature. Thus, the change in heat energy of the container and water will be the sum of
1
Emily Gatlin Joule Equivalent of Electrical Energy
Q mc cc T mw cw T
where mw mass of water; mc mass of container
(1.4) VI t J mc cc T mw cw T
VI 1
J
mc cc mw cw T
PROC EDURE t
APPARATUS
The apparatus contains a resistive heating-coil, stirrer, and
low voltage, high current power supply, digital voltmeter and ammeter, electrical
leads, digital multimeter, and Pasco® 750 Science Workshop data acquisition
DATA ACQUISITION
In order to obtain the data, the DataStudio™ software is set up to use the temperature sensor on the
apparatus to collect systematically the temperatures at specified time interval of 5-seconds. After the
computer is completely set-up, the rest of the apparatus is assembled. Water is added to the calorimeter
until it is about 2-inches away from being completely full. In order to lower the temperature of the
water, a few ice cubes are added. Once the ice is completely melted, the calorimeter is carefully placed
into the apparatus to ensure that they heating-coil and temperature probe do not touch. The voltage is
set to a constant amount of approximately 6-volts. The voltmeter is wired directly to the heating coil
assembly and is used to gain an accurate measurement of voltage between the two ends of the heating-
coil. The computer is now ready to collect the data. While the data is recorded into the computer directly
from the temperature probe, the stirrer rod is constantly moved up and down to stir the water as it is
heated.
This ensures that all the water and its container will come into thermal equilibrium with each other. The
data acquisition stops automatically after ten-minutes. The results are graphed in the plot, temperature
2
Emily Gatlin Joule Equivalent of Electrical Energy
vs. time. The DataStudio™ software also allows the direct plotting of the temperature vs. time graph and
VI
J
the calculation of the slope in the form y mx b mc cc mw cw
T (1.5)
t
I
m
t
The entire experiment is repeated using 8-volts from the power source instead of 6-volts.
DATA SET #1
Mass of container and Water mcw 278.0grams
Mass of Container mc 42.00 grams
Mass of Water m w 236.0 grams
kcal
Specific Heat of Water cw 1.0 kg
oC
kcal
Specific Heat of Aluminum cc 0.21 kg
oC
%Error 14.4858105236%
% Error
%Error 15.0826886214%
U s i n g e q u a t i o n ( 1. 5 )
VI
J
T
mc cc mw cw
t
6.1 volts 4.82 C
J
kcal
0.042 kg 0.21 kg 0.236 kg 1.0 kg 0.025 6.510
kcal 5
C C
Theoretical Value Measured Value
29.402 v C % Error = ×100
J Theoretical Value
0.00882 kcal o C 0.236 kcal C0.024935 o C seconds
kcal 4792.37602852
Joules Joules
4186 kcal
29.408 v C % Error = 100
J 4186 Joules kcal
0.24482 kcal oC0.024935 C
second %Error 14.4858105236%
29.408 v C
J 4817.36134569 Joules
kcal
0.0061045867 kcal second
J 4817.36134569 Joules
kcal
3
Emily Gatlin Joule Equivalent of Electrical Energy
VI
J
T
mc cc mw cw
t
6.1 volts 4.82 C
J
kcal
0.025 6.5105
kcal
0.042 kg 0.21 0.236 kg 1.0
kg
C
kg
C
29.402 v C Theoretical Value Measured Value
J % Error = ×100
o
0.00882 kcal C 0.236 kcal C 0.025065 secondsoC
Theoretical Value
4186 Joules kcal 4817.36134569 Joules kcal
29.408 v C % Error = 100
J 4186 Joules
0.24482 kcal oC 0.025065 C second
kcal
%Error 15.0826886214%
29.408 v C
J 4792.37602853 Joules kcal
0.0061364133 kcal second
DATA SET #2
4
Emily Gatlin Joule Equivalent of Electrical Energy
VI
J
T
mc cc mw cw
t
8.0 volts 6.38 Amp
J
kcal
0.0416 110
kcal 5
0.042 kg 0.21 kg
0.249 kg 1.0 kg
C C
51.04 v A
J
0.00882 kcal o C 0.249 kcal C0.04161 o C seconds
Theoretical Value Measured Value
51.04 v A % Error = ×100
J Theoretical Value
0.25782 kcal oC0.04161 C second 4186 Joules
kcal 4757.69
Joules
kcal
% Error = 100
51.04 v C 4186 Joules kcal
J 4757.69224409 Joules
kcal
0.107278902 kcal second %Error 13.6572%
VI
J
T
mc cc mw cw
t
8.0 volts 6.38 Amp
J
kcal
0.0416 110
kcal 5
0.042 kg 0.21 kg
0.249 kg 1.0 kg
C C
Theoretical Value Measured Value
51.04 v A % Error = ×100
J Theoretical Value
0.00882 kcal o C 0.249 kcal C 0.04159 o C seconds
% Error =
4186 Joules kcal 4759.98 Joules kcal
100
51.04 v A 4186 Joules kcal
J
0.25782 kcal oC 0.04159 C second %Error 13.7119%
51.04 v C
J 4759.98014611 Joules
kcal
0.0109887338 kcal second
J 4759.98014611 Joules
kcal
The error within the experiment could stem from multiple sources. For example, the minute presence of
ice not completely melted might have been present when the experiment begins. This would cause a
much cooler temperature than expected at the specified voltages and current readings. Additionally, the
mass of the water and container might be skewed due to the presence of ice. Ice is less dense than liquid
water and this would cause disparity in the data used to calculate the joule equivalent of electrical energy
using equation(1.5). Additionally, the water within the calorimeter might still not possess a uniform
temperature due to the stirring, which would also produce error within the data.
5
Emily Gatlin Joule Equivalent of Electrical Energy
CONC LUSIO N
This experiment demonstrated the relationship between the equivalence of electrical energy and heat
energy using calorimetry to show a method to measure electrical energy. Since the formation of the
concept of electrical energy revolved around the principles of mechanical energy, the correlation of
electrical energy to these principles remains a crucial relationship to understanding electrical energy.
Equation(1.3) shows the direct correlation of these fundamental principles to each other. In this
experiment, the joule electrical equivalent of energy is calculated using the slope of the temperature
versus time curve. This plot of the temperature versus time curve shows the direct linear relationship
associated with the joule electrical equivalent of energy. This correlation is shown in Equation(1.5).
Thus, this experiment uses the key concepts behind calorimetry in order to explain its correlation to the
joule electrical equivalent of energy as seen in Equation(1.4). The error present in the experiment still
demonstrated the concepts effectively and allowed for a calculation of the joule equivalent of electrical
energy.