Specific heat capacity is a physical property of a substance defined as the amount of heat energy required to raise the temperature of one unit mass of the substance by one degree Celsius (or one Kelvin). It is usually denoted by the symbol ccc and expressed in units of joules per kilogram per kelvin (J/kg·K)
. More precisely, the specific heat capacity ccc can be mathematically expressed as:
c=QmΔTc=\frac{Q}{m\Delta T}c=mΔTQ
where QQQ is the heat energy added, mmm is the mass of the substance, and ΔT\Delta TΔT is the change in temperature
. Specific heat capacity is an intensive property, meaning it does not depend on the amount or shape of the substance but is intrinsic to the material itself
. Different materials have different specific heat capacities; for example, liquid water has a high specific heat capacity of about 4184 J/kg·K, which means it requires a lot of heat to change its temperature, while metals like copper have much lower values
. There are two common types of specific heat capacity for gases:
- Specific heat capacity at constant pressure (cpc_pcp), when the gas is allowed to expand while heating.
- Specific heat capacity at constant volume (cvc_vcv), when the gas is heated in a fixed volume.
These differ because of the work done by the gas during expansion
. In summary, specific heat capacity quantifies how much heat energy is needed to raise the temperature of a given mass of a substance by one degree, reflecting the material's ability to store thermal energy
