This simulation illustrates Newton's law of cooling.

Which shows what happens to the temperatures of some water and a metal block when they are put together.

Newton's Law of Cooling:
"The rate of heat loss of a body is directly proportional to the difference in temperature between the body and its surroundings."

Mathematically:
dT/dt = − k (T − Tenv)

Where:
T = temperature of the object at time t.
Tenv = temperature of the surroundings.
k = cooling constant (depends on material, surface area, etc).
The negative sign indicates cooling (temperature decreases).

The simulation graphs the temperature as a function of time.

It also shows a representation of the block in the water (top right), color-coded by temperature.

Bar graphs (middle right) showing the energy transferred to the water and the block (negative means energy was removed); and temperature readouts (bottom right).

Use the sliders to set the initial mass of the water and the block, as well as their initial temperatures.

You can use the buttons at the bottom to choose from three different metals.

You should be able to rank these metals based on their specific heat.