4.

Electrical equivalent of Heat

4.1 AIM
To measure the ‘electrical equivalent of heat’ by studying the conversion of electrical
energy to heat energy.

4.2 PRINCIPLE
The mechanical equivalent of heat states that motion and heat are mutually
interchangeable and that in every case, a given amount of work would generate the same
amount of heat, provided the work done is totally converted to heat energy. In this
experiment, instead of mechanical motion, resistive heating is used. A known amount of
current (I) is passed through a wire whose ends are maintained at a constant potential (V).
The electrical energy supplied in time t is –
𝐸"#"$%&'$(# = 𝑉𝐼𝑡
This energy leads to an increase of temperature (DT) of a known amount of water (mw).
The energy required for this rise is supplied by 𝐸"#"$%&'$(# and is equal to –
𝐸-(%"&."(% = 𝑚0 𝑐0 D𝑇
As the water is taken in a container (here copper of mass mc), also there will be an
increase its temperature. The energy required for this rise is also supplied by 𝐸"#"$%&'$(#
and is equal to –
𝐸3455"&."(% = 𝑚$ 𝑐$ D𝑇
Electrical energy (in Joules) = heat energy (in calories)

𝑉𝐼𝑡 = 𝑚0 𝑐0 D𝑇 + 𝑚$ 𝑐$ D𝑇

4.3 EQUIPMENTS REQUIRED

Table I : Equipment and the items required for performing the experiment.
S.No. Required item Utility

1@ Calorimeter To measure the heat energy

2 D C power supplier For the supply of current
3 Weighing balance Measures weight of colorimeter
4 Stopwatch To Measure time of heating and cooling
5 Thermometer For measuring the temperature change
@ Refer to next experiments for description of a calorimeter

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Figure 1: Photograph of the experiment set-up. Refer to Table I for labels

4.4. PROCEDURE
Five physical quantities need to be measured in this experiment.
A Fixed volume of water taken in a calorimeter cup (both at room temperature), is
heated by passing a constant current through the immersed nichrome wire
maintained at a constant voltage across it. Make the following table in your notebook
and fill in the details.

Table II : The details of the physical quantities to be measured.

S. Physical Independent / Measured Measuring instrument’s
No quantity Dependent with Minimum Maximum Least
count
1 Temperature
2 Time
3 Mass
4 Voltage
5 Current

1. Connect the circuit.

2. Measure the mass of the calorimeter cup + stirrer. Let this be 𝑚7 grams.
3. Pour water into the cup so that Nichrome resistor coil is covered by about an inch of
water.
4. Now, measure the mass of the calorimeter + stirrer + water. Let this be 𝑚8 grams.

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 Figure 2: Calorimeter setup

5. Insert a thermometer into the water in the calorimeter, taking care to see that the
thermometer bulb is not in contact with nichrome coil.
6. Measure the initial temperature (𝑇7 ) after allowing a couple of minutes to allow the
thermometer bulb to attain equilibrium with the water in the calorimeter.
7. Turn on the power supply and simultaneously turn on the stop watch.
8. Quickly adjust the voltage to get a current of about one ampere in the circuit as read
by the current meter of the power supply unit. Note down the current as I amps. Turn
the V/I switch on the power supply unit to read the voltage. Let this be V volts. Keep
gently stirring the contents of the calorimeter taking care to see that the stirrer does
not come in contact with the nichrome coil in the calorimeter. A contact is indicated
by a sudden change in voltage or by squeaking sound from the power supply unit.
9. Note down the temperature at regular intervals.

Table III : Measuements.

m1= _________ gm
T1= _______________ ℃
m2= _________ gm
T2= _______________ ℃
I = _________ amp
T3= _______________ ℃
V= _________ volts

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 Heating Cooling
Temperature (℃) Time (s) Temperature (℃) Time (s)

10. Record the values of temperature as a function of time in a table.

11. When the temperature of the calorimeter contents reaches about 10 to 20 degrees
Celsius higher than the starting temperature turn off the power supply. Call this time
as t. Note this temperature as T2.
12. Continue making observations of temperature at regular intervals until another t/2.
Note the temperature at this time as T3.
13. Plot the following graphs
A. Temperature vs. Time for heating
B. Temperature vs. Time for cooling
14. Calculate the Mechanical equivalent of heat as follows –

By Radiation Correction

𝑇8; = 𝑇8 + (𝑇8 − 𝑇> )

Mechanical Equivalent Of Heat

𝑉𝐼𝑡
1 𝐽 = 𝑐𝑎𝑙
(𝑚$ . 𝑠$ + 𝑚0 . 𝑠0 )(𝑇8; − 𝑇7 )

15. Perform the least square fitting of the data in graph A to a straight line.
16. Perform the least square fitting of the data in graph B to a exponential decay. The
same graph can be plotted as ln(t) vs. Temperature and fit then fit to a straight line.

4.5 STUDY QUESTIONS

1. If water was replaced with, say propane, would you still use it for calculating the
Joule- Calorie conversion?

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 2. If the heating is done too fast, will the slope be still linearly increasing according to
Joule’s electric heating formula?
3. How long from the original starting time would it have taken to achieve a temperature
of 500C with experimental arrangement you used?
4. Assuming that one used the same heating coil and that its resistance did not change,
how much would the power be increased if the voltage were increased by 50%?
5. Suppose that some liquid other than water were used in the calorimeter. If liquid had a
specific heat of 0.25cal/ºCg, would that tend to improve the results, make them worse
or have no effect on them?
6. What does the slope of the fit to graph A represent?
7. The temperature of the part of the thermometer that is immersed in water also
increases? But this rise is not accounted for in the calculations. To what extent this
affects the result?
8. How to perform the experiment, so that radiation correction is not needed?

4.6 FURTHER SCOPE OF EXPERIMENT

1. Relate the slope of the heating curve to different parameters in the experiment.
2. Relate the ‘decay constant’ of the cooling curve to parameters in the experiment.
3. Observe the changes in the experimental observations by heating in an open
container?
4. Perform the experiment with different combinations of a) amount of water b) current
and c) voltage. Which is the best combination?

4.7 PRECAUTIONS
1. The nichrome wire coil should not be in contact with the thermometer, as it may lead
to a sudden change in current
2. The lid should be additionally padded with cotton to provide insulation.
3. Voltage should not exceed 1 V.

4.8 SOURCES OF ERROR

1. Heat loss.
2. Fluctuations in the current and voltage.

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4.9 THEORY
Joule’s law states that the amount of heat produced in a current conducting wire, is
proportional to the square of the amount of current that is flowing through the wire, the
electrical resistance of the wire and the time of current flowing.
𝐸 ∝ 𝐼 8 𝑅𝑡
1
𝐸 = 𝐼 8 𝑅𝑡
𝐽
J = Joule’s Mechanical Equivalent of Energy = 4.2 J /cal
This can be calculated by using the energy lost from the circuit to heat up another body
whose specific heat capacity is known.

Here, water is chosen for heating since we know that it remains in the same phase at our
required temperature range and the difference between its melting point and boiling point
is large enough for experimentation.

There are broadly three ways in which heat is transferred- conduction, convection and
radiation.

i) Conduction is heat transfer via vibration of particles in their mean position. First the
particles in contact with the source of energy start vibrating. Vibration of these particles
causes its neighboring particles to vibrate. And energy flows throughout the body in this
way.

ii) Convection is the movement caused within a fluid by the tendency of hotter and
therefore less dense material to rise, and colder, denser material to sink under the
influence of gravity, which consequently results in transfer of heat.

iii) Radiation is heating due to emission of electromagnetic waves

Conduction and convection require matter for transferring heat. The isolation chamber
keeps the system of away from good conductors of heat. However, since radiation does
not require matter for heat loss, the isolation chamber cannot stop heat loss via radiation.
This heat loss has to has to be incorporated in the conservation of energy equation.

For finding energy lost due to radiation. The system is allowed to cool down in the same
isolated chamber for half the time it took for heating and the temperature is noted.

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4.10 FURTHER READING AND RESOURCES

Text books and Papers

1. David Halliday, R. R. (2015). Chapter 26 Current and Resistance. In Fundamentals of
Physics Extended, 10th Edition (10th ed., Vol. 2, pp. 760-763). Wiley.
2. Joule, J. (1850). On the Mechanical Equivalent of Heat. Philosophical Transactions of
the Royal Society of London, 140, 61-82. Retrieved
from http://www.jstor.org/stable/108427

Internet
Nave, C. R. (2012). Mechanical Equivalent of Heat. Retrieved from
HyperPhysics: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/thermo/heat.html

Videos
Pearson India (2014, October). Understand the Mechanical Equivalent of Heat.
Retrieved from YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tudxily5Qu0