Or the amount of energy needed to heat

substances up

Total amount of heat in a body

can be affected by:
1) the temperature of the body
2)the mass of the body
3) the type of material

Specific Heat Capacity (C) of a

substance is the amount of heat

required to raise the temperature of
1g of the substance by 1oC (or by 1 K).
The units of specific heat capacity are

J oC-1 g-1 or J K-1 g-1. Sometimes the

mass is expressed in kg so the units
could also be J oC-1 g-1 or
J K-1 kg-1

Specific Heat Capacity can be

thought of as a measure of how

much heat energy is needed to
warm the substance up.
You will possibly have noticed
that it is easier to warm up a
saucepan full of oil than it is to
warm up one full of water.

http://www.cookwaremanufacturer.com/photo/418fa6490f24202f2cc5b5feee0fdde3/Aluminum-

The next table shows how much

energy it takes to heat up some

different substances.
The small values show that not a lot of

energy is needed to produce a

temperature change, whereas the large
values indicate a lot more energy is
needed.

Approximate values in J / kg K of the Specific

Heat Capacities of some substances are:

Air
1000 Lead
125
Aluminium
900 Mercury
14
Asbestos
840 Nylon
1700
Brass
400 Paraffin
2100
Brick
750 Platinum 135
Concrete
3300
Polythene
2200
Cork
2000
Polystyrene
1300
Glass
600 Rubber
1600
Gold
130 Silver
235
Ice
2100
Steel
450
Iron
500 Water
4200

The
equation:
Q = mcT
Unit :
Joule,J
Q =heat supplied

c = specific heat capacity

m = mass
T = change of temperature

An example of a calculation using

the specific heat capacity equation:
How much energy would be
needed to heat 450 grams of
copper metal from a temperature
of 25.0C to a temperature of
75.0C?
(The specific heat of copper at
25.0C is 0.385 J/g C.)

Explanation:
The change in temperature (T) is:
75C - 25C = 50C
Given mass, two temperatures, and a
specific heat capacity, you have enough
values to plug into the specific heat
equation
q = m x C x T .
and plugging in your values you get
q = (450 g) x (0.385 J/g C) x (50.0C)
= 8700 J

Example:
A block of iron mass 2kg at temperature

300c is heated with an electric heater

rated 100W for 1 minute. Find the rise in
temperature and the final temperature
of the block of iron. (specific heat
capacity of iron is 452 J kg-10C-1)
Ans: 36.640C

APPLICATION OF SPECIFIC
HEAT CAPACITY
1)Cooking utensils

-a metal has low specific heat

capacity and its temperature
increase easily when heated.

2) Sea breeze
3)Land breeze