Specific Heat question

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HenryH

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I didn't get this from any DAT study programs, but my chem. professor said problems like this sometimes appear on standardized tests with chemistry.

"A 55.4g sample of a metal was heated to 128 deg. C and then placed in a calorimeter containing 68.6 g of water at 20.3 deg. C. The final temperature of the water and metal in the calorimeter is 25.6 deg. C. Calculate the specific heat capacity of the metal. "

Here is what I have done so far:

heat lost by metal = heat gained by water

m X s X change in Temp. = m X s X change in Temp.

55.4g X s X 102.4 deg. C = 68.6g X 4.18 j/g-C X 5.3 deg. C

s = (68.6 g)(4.18 j/g-C)(5.3 deg. C) / (55.4)(102.4 deg. C)

s = 1519.7644/5672.96

This is where I'm not sure what's going on -- my math *should* be correct, but I'm not sure, since the top number is bigger than the bottom one.

What do you guys think?
 
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