Welcome to the EIE Thermodynamics Heat Transfer Exercise applet. Here you will be able to practice the concepts of heat transfer with the heat equation and specific heat.
To start you will see the Run Simulation button selected. Using default values, you can see a basic interaction between two objects with the same specific heat. You can tab to the Temperature display, the Check specific heat button, its options, and its display, and then you will come to the Materials input section.
Begin by selecting the materials you would like to test with. There are a number of preselected objects and fluids that can be chosen for the transfer experiment in the drop-down menus, as well as custom options for further concept exploration. You can change the starting masses of both the object and fluid, as well as their starting temperatures. The mystery and sample testing options will be explained shortly.
Next be sure to establish the temperature range that you want this thermometer to cover. It is recommended that you choose a range close to the values of your starting temperatures so that you can see the full range of motion on the applet’s thermometer.
Finally select the Run Simulation button to start the experiment. Using your initial values and the heat equation, see if you can calculate the initial specific heat of either the fluid or the object when the other is treated as a known value.
The mystery options allow you to have a chance to test your understanding and attempt to calculate the specific heat of object or fluid with an unknown specific heat. These objects should be tested with the other substance having a known value, wither a preset, custom, or previously determined mystery value.
As noted before, using the Check It button, once you have performed a simulation, you can check your work by selecting which substance you want to find the specific heat of, and then choosing the check it button to calculate it.
The sample-testing mode can be selected from the dropdown for the substance you want to test in a physical experiment. Note only one substance can be in sample testing mode at a time. The temperature display will be replaced with an input field for you to insert the final temperature of the experimental system. Once that is filled out, and all initial values are inputted to the values of your experiment, you can use the Check It button to calculate the experimental specific heat of your sample.
For further exploration, there are two tables of values that can be opened within the page with the button at the bottom of the page (or if that causes problems a link below that will open it in a new tab). The tables can be used to classify the mystery sample substances.