3.

2 Thermal Properties of Matter

Specific Heat Capacity
3.2.1

Define specific heat capacity and thermal capacity.

3.2.2

Specific heat capacity (c) is the heat energy required to increase the
temperature of 1 kg of a substance by 1 K (unit = J kg -1 K-1).
Q = mcT
Thermal capacity (C) of an object is the heat energy required to increase the
temperature of that object by 1 K (C = m x c)
Note that heat capacity is a property of a particular body while specific heat
capacity is a property of a substance.
The function of these quantities is to relate internal energy change to
temperature change. Equal masses of different substances require different
amounts of energy to produce the same temperature change.
Unit masses of different substances contain different numbers of molecules,
of different types and masses. Thus if the same total amount of internal
energy is added to each unit mass, and is distributed among the molecules,
the average energy change of each molecule will be different in the two
cases. Thus the temperature changes will be different, so that the specific
heat capacities will differ.

Solve problems involving specific heat capacities and thermal capacities.

1. When a car brakes, an amount of heat equal to 112.5 kJ is generated in the
brake drums. If the mass of the brake drums is 28 kg, and the specific heat of
the metal is 460.5 J kg-1 K-1, what is the resulting change in temperature?
112500= (460.5)(28) T
8.7 K= T
2. A piece of iron (200 g) at 300 C is dropped in 1.00 kg of water at 20 C.
What will be the eventual temperature of the water? (Given c Fe = 470 J kg-1
K-1; cwater = 4200 J kg-1 K-1)
Q = (0.2)
3. There are 0.1 kg of carbon in a calorimeter at 15 C. The container has a
mass of 0.02 kg and is made of aluminum. The addition of 0.892 kJ of heat
energy brins the temperature of 28 C. What is the specific heat capacity of
carbon? Assume that the specific heat capacity of aluminum in this
temperature range is 0.9 kJ kg-1 K-1.