Specific Heat Capacities of Air

The nominal values used for air at 300 K are CP = 1.00 kJ/kg.K, Cv = 0.718 kJ/kg.K,, and
k = 1.4. However, they are all functions of temperature, and with the extremely high
temperature range experienced in internal combustion and gas turbine engines one can
obtain significant errors. The table following gives the values of specific heat capacities as
a function of temperature. We find that choosing values of specific heat capacities at the
average temperature of each process gives results with reasonable accuracy (within around
1%).

Ideal gas specific heat capacities of air

Temperature CP Cv
k
K kJ/kg.K kJ/kg.K
250 1.003 0.716 1.401
300 1.005 0.718 1.400
350 1.008 0.721 1.398
400 1.013 0.726 1.395
450 1.020 0.733 1.391
500 1.029 0.742 1.387
550 1.040 0.753 1.381
600 1.051 0.764 1.376
650 1.063 0.776 1.370
700 1.075 0.788 1.364
750 1.087 0.800 1.359
800 1.099 0.812 1.354
900 1.121 0.834 1.344
1000 1.142 0.855 1.336
1100 1.155 0.868 1.331
1200 1.173 0.886 1.324
1300 1.190 0.903 1.318
1400 1.204 0.917 1.313
1500 1.216 0.929 1.309

The values up to 1000 K were originally published in "Tables of Thermal Properties of

Gases", NBS Circular 564,1955. The last five rows were calculated from a formula by B
G Kyle "Chemical and Process Thermodynamics", Englewood Cliffs / Prentice Hall, 1984,
and have <1% error.

Specific Heat Capacities of Air - (Updated 7/26/08) (ohio.edu)