Specific Heat

Chapter 11 : Section 2.

Definition
The specific heat of a substance is the amount of heat per unit mass required to raise its temperature by one degree Celsius. Celsius. Specific Heat may sometimes be referred to as :
Specific Heat Capacity Or Heat Capacity

Units of Specific Heat:

J o g C

kJ oC kg

A relationship between heat and temperature can be represented as follows:

Q ! mc(T
This relationship does not apply during phase change, as the heat applied does not change the temperature but the state of matter. Transitions between states of matter usually involves much larger quantities of energy compared to that of specific heat.

Specific heats and molar heat capacities for various substances at 20 C:

Substance Aluminum Bismuth Copper Brass Gold Lead Silver Tungsten Zinc Mercury Alcohol(ethyl) Water Ice (-10 C) Granite Glass c in J/gm K 0.9 0.123 0.386 0.38 0.126 0.128 0.233 0.134 0.387 0.14 2.4 4.186 2.05 0.79 0.84 c in cal/gm K or Btu/lb F Molar C J/mol K 0.215 0.0294 0.0923 0.092 ... 0.0301 0.0305 0.0558 0.0321 0.0925 0.033 0.58 1 0.49 0.19 ... 0.2 ... 24.3 25.7 24.5 25.6 26.4 24.9 24.8 25.2 28.3 111 75.2 36.9

The specific heat of water is 1 calorie/gram rC or 4.186 joule/gram rC, which is higher than most other common substances. substances.