Heat

Internal Energy

 A rise in the temperature of an object increases its internal energy

o This can be thought of as due to an increase in the average speed of the
particles
o Increasing speed increases kinetic energy

    

 Internal energy is defined as:

The total energy stored inside a system by the particles that make up the
system due to their motion and positions

 Motion of the particles affects their kinetic energy

 Positions of the particles relative to each other affects their potential energy
o Together, these two make up the internal energy of the system
 Substances have internal energy due to the motion of the particles
and their positions relative to each other

Average Kinetic Energy

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 Heating a system changes a substance's internal energy by increasing the kinetic

energy of its particles
o The temperature of the material, therefore, is related to the average kinetic
energy of the molecules

    

 This increase in kinetic energy (and therefore internal energy) can:

 o Cause the temperature of the system to increase
o Or, produce a change of state (solid to liquid or liquid to gas)

As the container heats up, the gas molecules move faster

Faster motion causes higher kinetic energy and therefore higher internal energy
Specific Heat Capacity
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 How much the temperature of a system increases depends on:

o The mass of the substance heated
o The type of material
o The amount of thermal energy transferred in to the system

 The specific heat capacity, c, of a substance is defined as:

The amount of energy required to raise the temperature of 1 kg of the

substance by 1 °C

 Different substances have different specific heat capacities

o If a substance has a low specific heat capacity, it heats up and cools down
quickly (ie. it takes less energy to change its temperature)
o If a substance has a high specific heat capacity, it heats up and cools down
slowly (ie. it takes more energy to change its temperature)
Low vs high specific heat capacity
Calculating Specific Heat Capacity

 The amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of a given mass by a given
amount can be calculated using the equation:

    

 Where:
o ΔE = change in thermal energy, in joules (J)
o m =  mass, in kilograms (kg)
o c =  specific heat capacity, in joules per kilogram per degree Celsius (J/kg °C)
o Δθ  =  change in temperature, in degrees Celsius (°C)
 Heat capacity is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of an
object by 1oC1oC.
 The specific heat of a substance is the amount of energy required to raise the
temperature of 1 gram of the substance by 1oC1oC.
Specific latent heatEdit
A specific latent heat (L) expresses the amount of energy in the form of heat (Q) required to
completely effect a phase change of a unit of mass (m), usually 1kg, of a substance as
an intensive property:
Intensive properties are material characteristics and are not dependent on the size or extent of
the sample. Commonly quoted and tabulated in the literature are the specific latent heat of
fusion and the specific latent heat of vaporization for many substances.

From this definition, the latent heat for a given mass of a substance is calculated by

where:

Q is the amount of energy released or absorbed during the change of phase of the substance
(in kJ or in BTU),
m is the mass of the substance (in kg or in lb), and
L is the specific latent heat for a particular substance (kJ kg −1 or in BTU lb−1), either Lf for
fusion, or Lv for v

Specific Heat Example Problem

 The energy required to heat
something is proportional to the mass and temperature change of the
material. The proportionality constant is called specific heat.
Photo by Johannes W on Unsplash

Specific heat is the amount of heat per unit mass needed to increase the
temperature of a material by one degree Celsius or Kelvin. These three
specific heat example problems will show how to find the specific heat of a
material or other information involving the specific heat.
Specific Heat Equation
The equation most commonly associated with specific heat is
Q = mcΔT
where
Q = Heat energy
m = mass
c = specific heat
ΔT = change in temperature = (Tfinal – Tinitial)
A good way to remember this formula is Q = “em cat”
Basically, this equation is used to determine the amount of heat added to a
material to raise the temperature some amount (or the amount lost as the
material cools).
This equation only applies to materials that stay in the same state of matter
(solid, liquid, or gas) as the temperature changes. Phase changes require
additional energy considerations.
Specific Heat Example Problem – Find the Amount of Heat
Question: A 500 gram cube of lead is heated from 25 °C to 75 °C. How
much energy was required to heat the lead? The specific heat of lead is
0.129 J/g°C.
Solution: First, let’s the variables we know.
m = 500 grams
c = 0.129 J/g°C
ΔT = (Tfinal – Tinitial) = (75 °C – 25 °C) = 50 °C
Plug these values into the specific heat equation from above.
Q = mcΔT
Q = (500 grams)·(0.129 J/g°C)·(50 °C)
Q = 3225 J
Answer: It took 3225 Joules of energy to heat the lead cube from 25 °C to
75 °C.
Specific Heat Example Problem – Find the Specific Heat
Question: A 25-gram metal ball is heated 200 °C with 2330 Joules of
energy. What is the specific heat of the metal?
Solution: List the information we know.
m = 25 grams
ΔT = 200 °C
Q = 2330 J
Place these into the specific heat equation.
Q = mcΔT
2330 J = (25 g)c(200 °C)
2330 J = (5000 g°C)c
Divide both sides by 5000 g°C

c = 0.466 J/g°C
Answer: The specific heat of the metal is 0.466 J/g°C.
Specific Heat Example Problem – Find the Initial Temperature
Question: A hot 1 kg chunk of copper is allowed to cool to 100°C. If the
copper gave off 231 kJ of energy, what was the initial temperature of the
copper? The specific heat of copper is 0.385 J/g°C.
Solution: List our given variables:
m = 1 kg
Tfinal = 100 °C
Q = -231 kJ (The negative sign is because the copper is cooling and losing
energy.)
c = 0.385 J/g°C
We need to make our units consistent with the specific heat units, so let’s
convert the mass and energy units.
m = 1 kg = 1000 grams
1 kJ = 1000 J
Q = -231 kJ · (1000 J/kJ) = -231000 J
Plug these values into the specific heat formula.
Q = mcΔT
-231000 J = 1000 g · (0.385 J/g°C) · ΔT
-231000 J = 385 J/°C · ΔT

ΔT = -600 °C
ΔT = (Tfinal – Tinitial)
Plug in the values for ΔT and Tfinal.
-600 °C = (100 °C – Tinitial)
Subtract 100 °C from both sides of the equation.
-600 °C – 100 °C =  – Tinitial
-700 °C = – Tinitial
Tinitial = 700 °C
Answer: The initial temperature of the copper chunk was 700 °C.