  This article demonstrates an undergraduate experiment for the determination
of specific heat capacities of various solids based on a calorimetric approach,
where the solid vaporizes a measurable mass of liquid nitrogen. We demonstrate
our technique for the metals copper and aluminum, the semi-metal graphite and
also present the data in relation with Einstein's model of independent harmonic
oscillators and the more accurate Debye model based on vibrational modes of a
continuous crystal. Furthermore, we elucidate an interesting material property,
the Verwey transition in magnetite occurring around 120-140 K. We also
demonstrate that the use of computer based data acquisition and subsequent
statistical averaging helps reduce measurement uncertainties.
