UNIVERSITY OF JORDAN

School of Engineering

Mechanical Department

Experiment No: 1
Experiment Name: mechanical equivalent to heat

Lab Section: Tuesday

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 A) INTRODUCTION
This is the classic experiment, first performed in 1847 by James
Joule, which led to our modern view that mechanical work and heat
are different aspects of the same quantity, energy. This experiment
related the two concepts and provided a connection between the
joule, defined in terms of mechanical variables (work, kinetic energy,
potential energy, etc.), and the calorie, defined in terms of
temperature increases of water. Contemporary SI units do not
distinguish between heat energy and mechanical energy, so that
heat is also measured in joules. Thus this experiment now takes on
the significance of providing a measurement of the specific heat of
water in joules per degree per kilogram.
The principle of the conservation of energy tells us that if a given
amount of work is transformed completely into heat, the resulting
thermal energy must be equivalent to the amount of work that was
performed. Of course, since work is normally measured in units of
Joules and thermal energy is normally measured in units of Calories,
the equivalence is not immediately obvious. A quantitative
relationship is needed that equates Joules and Calories. This
relationship is called the Mechanical
Equivalent of Heat.

FIGURE 1.1 : mechanical equivalent of

heat apparatus

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 In this lab, you will observe and measure the conversion of mechanical
energy into thermal energy. You’ll measure the mechanical energy in
Joules and the thermal energy in calories. With careful work and a little
luck, you may be able to determine the correct conversion factor
between these two units within the limits of error (measurement
uncertainty) of your experiment.

B) Data collected and result

Given Data
* Drum Data
^ Mass md = 0.7 kg
^ Specific heat Cd = 0.092 kcal/kg.oC
^ Radius rd = 0.075 m
* Water Data
^ Mass mw = 250 gm
^ Specific heat Cw = 1 kcal/kg.oC
^ Initial temperature Ti =16 oC
* Mass Data
^ Big mass W = 2 kg
* Room Temperature Tamb = 23 oC

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Drum revolution Water Spring Light weight(gm)
temperature (c) balance(gm)
0 13.5 50 100
100 15.2 50 100
200 16.1 50 100
300 16.9 65 100
400 17.7 65 110
500 18.5 65 110
600 19.3 65 110
700 20 65 110
800 20.8 70 110
900 21.5 70 110
1000 22.2 70 110
1100 22.8 70 110
1200 23.4 70 110
1300 24 70 110
1400 24.6 60 110
1500 25.1 60 110
1600 25.7 60 110
1700 26.3 60 110
1800 26.8 55 110
1900 27.3 55 110
2000 27.8 55 110
TABEL 1.1 : DATA COLLECTED

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 Drum work done (KJ) heat generated Joules factor
revolution (kcal) (kJ/kcal)
100 0.900999 0.53448 1.68575
200 1.801999 0.81744 2.204442
300 2.723791 1.06896 2.548075
400 3.613239 1.32048 2.736307
500 4.516549 1.572 2.873122
600 5.419858 1.82352 2.972196
700 6.323168 2.0436 3.094132
800 7.24496 2.29512 3.15668
900 8.15058 2.5152 3.240529
1000 9.0562 2.73528 3.310886
1100 9.96182 2.92392 3.407008
1200 10.86744 3.11256 3.49148
1300 11.77306 3.3012 3.566297
1400 12.61399 3.48984 3.61449
1500 13.51499 3.64704 3.705743
1600 14.41599 3.83568 3.758393
1700 15.31699 4.02432 3.806107
1800 16.17641 4.18152 3.868547
1900 17.07509 4.33872 3.935514
2000 17.97378 4.49592 3.997799
TABEL 1.2 :RESULTS

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 20
18
16
14
12
work done (k joule)

10
8
6
4
2
0
0 1 2 3 4 5
heat generated (k cal)

FIGRE 1.2: WORK DONE VS HEAT GENERATED

C) Sample of calculation

Take reading N=100 as a sample for calculations :

W= F× d = (W+ p – w)× g ×2π r× N
= ( 2 +50/1000 – 100/1000) × 9.81×2π×0.075 ×100 =0.90099

Q = md×Cd× ΔT + mw×Cw× ΔT = md×Cd× (T-Ti) + mw×Cw× (T-Ti)

= 0.7×0.092×(15.2 – 13.5 ) + 0.25×1×(15.2 – 13.5) =0.53448

J=W/Q
= 0.90099/0.53448= 1.68575

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 D) DISSCION AND CONCLUTION
From the above analysis we can see the linear relation between temp and
number of revolution .All work can be convert to equivalent heat . The
heat produced by friction is measured by determining the change in
temperature . This temperature change at several time intervals (every 50
rotations or so) is measured with a thermometer inserted in the core; it
rests horizontally on a thermometer holder on the apparatus.

In this experiment, a measurable amount of work is performed by turning

a crank. The crank drives the rotation of an aluminum cylinder, which is
subject to friction from a rope looped around the cylinder several times,
supporting a mass. When the system is set up correctly, turning the crank
will just lift that supported mass off the ground—when this occurs, we
know that the force of friction between the aluminum cylinder and the
rope is equal to the gravitational force F = Mg on the mass. If we know the
average force, and we know the number of turns of the crank (there is a
counter on the hardware), then we can compute how much work we
have put into the system. We assume that all of this work is converted to
heat through friction, and that we should subsequently be able to make a
connection between the amount of work put into the system and the
temperature of the aluminum cylinder over time. Specifically, we expect
that the mechanical work performed and the thermal energy gained by
the cylinder will be proportional. In general, if better conditions were
achieved and the experiment was done in an approximately adiabatic
manner, the energy losses, such as those due to convection, can be
neglected and better results that are closer to Joule’s results can be

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obtained. The energy of the system can be written in its mathematical form
as: W = Q.

Sources of errors
- Heat loss by convection and radiation to the surroundings.
- Personal error in reading the spring load dynamometer because of its
quick oscillatory motion.

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