Specific Heat Capacity
- How much the temperature of a system increases depends on:
- The mass of the substance heated
- The type of material
- The amount of energy put in to the system
- The energy put in is in the form of thermal energy
- 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
- 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)
- 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