SPECIFIC HEAT CAPACITY & LATENT HEAT

THERMAL CAPACITY / HEAT CAPACITY

 Defined as the amount of energy used to change the temperature
of a body by unit temperature

∆𝑄 = 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑙 𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦 (𝑗𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑒)

∆𝑄
∆𝑇 = 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 (𝐾𝑒𝑙𝑣𝑖𝑛 𝑜𝑟 𝐶𝑒𝑙𝑐𝑖𝑢𝑠)
𝐽 𝐽
𝐻 ∆𝑇 𝐻 = 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 ℃ 𝑜𝑟 𝐾

H =m×c m = mass (kg)

Q = m × c × ΔT c = specific heat capacity (J/kg°C)

 The temperature of objects with high thermal capacity will

change slowly
 The temperature of objects with low thermal capacity will
change quickly
SPECIFIC HEAT CAPACITY OF WATER
 4200 J/kg °C = 1000 cal/kg °C
 4.2 J/g °C = 1 cal/g °C

 1 liter of water = 1 kg 4.2 J = 1 cal

 1 ml of water = 1 g

IMPORTANT
EXAMPLE 1
 What is the amount of heat energy needed to increase
the temperature of 400 ml of water 20°C to 60°C?

 SOLUTION:
V= 400 ml  m = 400 g
ΔT = 60 – 20 = 40°C

Q = m×c×ΔT = 400 g × 1 cal/g°C × 40°C = 16000 cal

EXAMPLE 2
 500 ml of water 20°C absorbed 20000 calories of heat. Find the
final temperature of the water.

 Solution:
 Q = 20000 cal
 m= 500 g
 T1 = 20°C

𝑄 20000
 ∆𝑇 = = 500 ×1 = 40
𝑚 ×𝑐
 ΔT = T2 – T1
T2 = ΔT + T1
T2 = 40 + 20 = 60°C
LATENT HEAT
𝑸 = 𝒎 × 𝑳
𝑸 = 𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒈𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒅 (𝑱)
𝒎 = 𝒎𝒂𝒔𝒔 (𝒌𝒈)
𝑱
𝑳 = 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒄 𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒕 ( )
𝒌𝒈

 Latent heat is defined as the amount of energy needed

to change the state of a matter
EXAMPLE 3
 2 kg of ice requires 160000 calories to melt completely.
What is the latent heat?

 Solution:
m = 2kg
Q = 160000 cal

𝑄 160000
𝐿= 𝑚
= 2
= 𝟖𝟎𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝒄𝒂𝒍/𝒌𝒈