Question

What is the principle of a calorimeter?

(a) Heat loss rate is directly proportional to temperature difference

(b) The total heat lost by a hot body is same as the total heat gained by the cold body provided no heat is lost to the surroundings

(c) Heat loss depends only on specific heat of a substance

(d) For the same amount of heat flow from a sample to two different samples of same mass is a product of their specific heats and temperature difference

This question was posed to me at a job interview.

I want to ask this question from Thermal Properties of Matter topic in section Thermal Properties of Matter of Physics – Class 11

Answer 1

Right choice is (b) The total heat lost by a hot body is same as the total heat gained by the cold body provided no heat is lost to the surroundings

To elaborate: The principle of calorimeter states that heat lost by a hot body is the same as the heat gained by the cold body provided no heat is lost to the surroundings. The other statement that states that the amount of heat flow from a sample to two different samples of same mass is a product of their specific heats and temperature difference is true but it is not the principle of calorimetry. It is just a mathematical way of understanding heat transfer.