The Coffee Shop Thermometer · AI Generator #GEN-E6A84B86
Physics · thermodynamics
Problem
A coffee shop owner notices that when she pours hot coffee at 85°C into a ceramic mug at room temperature (20°C), the coffee cools to exactly 75°C by the time she finishes preparing it for the customer. She always uses 200g of coffee and the ceramic mug has a mass of 150g. Assuming no heat is lost to the surroundings during this brief time and that the ceramic has the same specific heat as the coffee, what is the specific heat capacity of the coffee and ceramic material? Use the fact that when thermal equilibrium is reached, the total thermal energy is conserved.