DETERMINATION OF SPECIFIC HEAT OF FOOD PRODUCTS

I. INTRODUCTION:
Specific heat is the quantity of heat that is gained or lost by a unit mass of product to accomplish
a unit change in temperature, without a change in state. Different food has different specific heat
and this property plays an important role in heat transfer process or in some specific processing
conditions. Therefore, determination of specific heat of food product is required.
There are various methods to calculate specific heat of food. The method of mixtures is
considered as one of the simplest methods. It based on the fact that when a hot substance is
mixed with a cold substance, the hot body loses heat and the cold body absorbs heat until
thermal equilibrium is attained. At equilibrium, final temperature of mixture is measured. The
specific heat of the substance is calculated with the help of the law of heat exchange.

II. OBJECTTIVE:
Using mixtures method to determine the specific heat of four food products: cucumbers, carrots,
mango and potatoes.

III. MATERIALS AND METHODS:

1. Materials:
o Potato, mango, cucumber, and carrot
o Beakers, thermal bottle
o Thermometers
o Refrigerator/Chiller
o Digital balance
o Infrared moisture analyzer
o Water at room temperature (2 L), # 50oC (3 L) and # 5oC (3 L)

2. Methods:
3.2.1 Weigh the container in the thermal bottle.
3.2.2 Determine the specific heat of this container using water at # 50oC (25 g each time):
a) pour the water into the container, wait for around 3 - 4 minutes and record the
equilibrium temperature;
b) repeat to have three readings, calculate cc and take the average.
3.2.3 Determine the specific heat of this container using water at # 5 oC (25 g each time), repeat
to have three readings and take the average.
3.2.4 Preparation of samples: peel provided food materials and cut them in 2-3 mm slices.
3.2.5 Determine the moisture content of these samples using a infrared moisture analyzer.
3.2.6 Determine the specific heat of the sample using warm water:
o Weigh around 10 grams of one type of foods.
o Rinse the container with water at room temperature.
o Transfer the sample to the container and pour water at # 50oC (25 g each time), close
the cover, wait for around 3-4 minutes and record the equilibrium temperature. Repeat to
have three readings for each type of sample.
3.2.7 Determine the specific heat of the sample using chilled water: the same as in Step 3.2.6 but
use water at # 5oC.
3.2.8 Calculate to have specific heat values of foods.