Measurement of specific heat by using non-isolating container and Arduino: a novel teaching method

Abstract This study reports a novel method to measure and teach the specific heat by means of ordinary non-isolating containers and Arduino microprocessors. The measurements are managed by simply placing cold substances in hot water and by monitoring the instant temperature variation via the Arduino UNO microprocessor. This method is original in the sense that it employs ordinary non-isolating containers and obvious heat loss from the container is determined by mathematically modelling the temperature decrease as a function of time. The specific heat measurements are managed based on the heat energy exchange between the hot water and the cold substance by extracting the heat loss to the environment. Proposed method is specifically employed for the substances of aluminium and copper and the measurements revealed that the relative errors of the measurements are 6.50% for copper and 1.38% for aluminium. This novel approach is very easy to implement, inexpensive and can effectively be employed on teaching physics, science and engineering. The novel method can also be employed on basic research activities and industrial applications.