okay, so i'm working on a specific heat lab right now. I have one question that I am really stuck on...

Question

Here it is:
Why should the metal be dry before dropping it into the calorimeter?

... is it because it affects the heat of the cube or it affects the mass of water? ... i'm not really sure.

Thanks for the help :]

Answer 1

a. It affects the apparent mass of the metal when it is weighed.
b. The water will absorb some of the heat generated but the water is not accounted for in the calorimeter.

Answer 2

But what if we weighed the metal before?

Answer 3

You still have the effect of the water absorbing the heat that DrBob stated in b.