Calorimetry / Thermal Mixing
Bring two masses at different temperatures and specific heats into contact — watch both temperatures converge exponentially to the exact energy-conserving equilibrium temperature.
Preview — sign up free to change the numbers yourself
What you can adjust
- Mass 1
- 0.1 – 10 kg
- Temperature 1
- -20 – 200 °C
- Specific heat 1 (c₁)
- 100 – 5000 J/(kg·K)
- Mass 2
- 0.1 – 10 kg
- Temperature 2
- -20 – 200 °C
- Specific heat 2 (c₂)
- 100 – 5000 J/(kg·K)
The first object's/substance's mass.
The first object's starting temperature.
How much energy it takes to change this object's temperature — water is 4186 J/(kg·K); metals are much lower (aluminum ~897).
The second object's/substance's mass.
The second object's starting temperature.
The second object's specific heat.
About this simulation
What it shows
Two masses at different temperatures and with different specific heats are brought into contact, and both temperatures slide to one shared final temperature.
The key idea
Heat lost by the hotter side equals heat gained by the cooler side. That gives a final temperature T = (m₁c₁T₁ + m₂c₂T₂) / (m₁c₁ + m₂c₂), which sits closer to the side with the larger m × c.
Try this
Set Specific heat 2 (c₂) to 897 J/(kg·K), like aluminium: the pair ends near 76 °C, much closer to the 90 °C water, because water holds more heat per degree.
No heat escapes to the surroundings. The final temperature is exact, but how quickly the two temperatures approach it on screen is only for display.