LATENT HEAT AND BOILING : plot T(t) vs. time for heat-up and boiling.

This simple experiment monitors the heat up and boiling of a known mass of water.  The observation of T(t) and the level of the water, along with the known (qualitatively) heat input of 1000 watts, illustrates the magnitude of latent heat release for water, as well as sensible heat capacity, etc.

1. Set the 4 liter beaker on a buffer plate which sits on a hot plate.
2. Connect the thermistor probe to its controller.  The controller output goes to the Interface Computer.
3. Select the BoilingWater.plt configuration file in the interface computer program.
4. Turn onto high heat at the beginning of the class.
5. Start plot routine on the computer (hit Start).
6. During class monitor the progress of T(t) and of the water depth.
7. Over a 40 minute class you can boil off a sizeable fraction (only).

Interface computer configuration screen.  Use BoilingWater.plt for this demonstration.

Sample output from the interface computer.

©2000.  John Hart, University of Colorado