The are generally two methods that can be used to calibrate a bomb calorimeter.

One involves using a carefully wieghed mass of a well characterized substance to carry out a reaction in the calorimeter. The known heat of reaction can be used to find out how much heat was produced (or absorbed) by the reaction. Since heat energy is conserved, all the heat lost (or gained) by the reaction is gained (or lost) by the calorimeter. The temperature change in the calorimeter that results from this reaction is carefully measured. The heat capacity of the calorimeter (C_cal) is then found by dividing the heat by the change in temperature. In other words a heat capcity will have units of ^energy/_temperature (ex. ^kJ/o_C)

Your calorimeter simulator uses the second method. In this method, a heater of known power is run in the calorimeter for a known length of time. The energy that is released by the heater is known and the temperature change in the calorimeter is carefully measured. Again, the heat capacity of the calorimeter is then found by dividing the heat by the change in temperature. The heat capcity will still have units of ^energy/_temperature (ex. ^kJ/o_C)

Your calorimeter has a heater that operates at 120 volts and supplies a constant current of 1.00 amps. The power of this heater is the product of the voltage and current:

Power = Volts x Amps = 120 Watts

As you can see, the heater you are using is about equivalent to a typical lightbulb or two . . .or it is about one tenth the power of a hair dryer.

The energy released by your heater can be found by multipyling the power by time in seconds.

Joules = Volts x Amps x seconds = Watts x seconds

How long do you want to run your heater?