222 Sensible and latent heat changes [Ch.

Table 8.1 shows some specific heat values for some foods and non-food
materials.
It is pertinent to make some general observations about specific heat
values at this point. Liquid water has an extremely high specific heat value,
much higher than most other liquids. This is why it is so widely used as a
cooling medium. The addition of ethylene glycol (antifreeze) will lower the
specific heat and consequently the cooling efficiency. When water freezes,
the specific heat capacity is drastically reduced, by a factor of approximately
2. Since water has a much higher specific heat than most other food
constituents, the specific heat of a food is significantly affected by the
amount of water present and the physical state of the water. Frozen foods
with high water contents will have specific heat values approximately half
that of their fresh counterparts.
Thus, considerably less energy is required to reduce food from - 1"C to
-30 "C than is required from 28 "C to -1 "C (most foods will commence
freezing at about -1 "C); it should also be noted that freezing is not a sharp
process, i.e. the water does not freeze at a constant temperature. During
processes such as evaporation, and dehydration the specific heat of the food
will fall. Water vapour has a specific heat value approximately equal to that
of ice. Specificheat of vapours are considered in more detail in section 11.6.
Metals have very low specific heat values compared with those of foods.
Oils and fats again have specific heats about half that for water. Dried grain
and food powders also have very low specific heat values. Specific heats are
temperature dependent; for most substances, there is a slight increase in the
specific heat as the temperature rises. Since specific heats are dependent on
moisture content and temperature, these are often recorded in more detail.
Table 8.1 gives further specific heat values for a range of foods, together with
a selection of data sources.

8.3 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SPECIFIC HEAT AND

COMPOSITIONS
From these observations, one might expect that it would be possible to
predict the specific heat of a food from a knowledge of its composition. For
example the specific heat of skim-milk would be slightly lower than that of
water because of the presence of milk solids. As the fat content increases,
one would expect the specific heat to decrease (substitution of water or fat).
The simplest form of equation for estimating the approximate specific
heat c of food is as follows:
+
c = mwcw m ,c, (kJ kg-' K - ' )
where m, is the mass fraction of water, c, = 4.18 kJ kg-' K - ' is the specific
heat of water, m, is the mass fraction of solids and c, = 1.46 kJ kg-' K-'
(Lamb, 1976) is the specific heat of solids. This reflects the major contribu-
tion due to water content.
An alternative form, given by Miles et al. (1983), distinguishes between
fat and other solids. The equation given is