Specific heat capacity

Specific Heat Capacity

Don’t forget, different materials require different amounts of energy to raise the same quantity of a material the same amount. The number of jules required to raise the temperature is the specific heat capacity.

\frac{Jules}{mass ° C}

So, with water with a specific heat capacity of 4180 kg/°C, it takes 4180 jules to raise one kilogram of water one degree. Everything scales from there. This means that different materials do not all increase their temperatures at an equal rate when the same amount of input energy is provided.

Thus, a general formula to figure out the amount of heat energy supplied q based on the heat capacity c times mass m and the change in temperature t.

q = cm Δ T

NOTE

Don’t forget to make sure that the units for heat capacity and mass match! If you have heat capacity as kg/°C but the mass in grams, you’ll have an off by thousands error!