Heat Capacity, Specific Heat Capacity
Heat capacity
Heat capacity is the amount of heat to be supplied for an object to change a specific amount of temperature:
where is thermal energy, and is temperature. Its SI unit is joule per kelvin ().
The change in thermal energy equals to heat capacity times the change in temperature:
A specific material with different masses have different heat capacities. Boiling a full kettle of water takes more time (requires more heat) than boiling half kettle of water. Different materials also have different heat capacities. It is easier to increase the temperature of steel than water, if they have the same amount of mass.
Specific heat capacity
Specific heat capacity is heat capacity divided by the mass of the object.
Its SI unit is joule per kelvin .
Therefore, the change in thermal energy equals to mass times specific heat capacity times the change in temperature:
Here is a table of specific heat capacity for common materials:
Material | water at | brass | steel |
---|---|---|---|
Specific heat capacity ) | 4182 | 380 | 466 |