Understanding Specific Heat Capacity

Specific heat capacity tells us how much heat energy a material needs to get warmer.

What is Specific Heat Capacity?

Specific heat capacity (we call it $c$) is the energy ($Q$) needed to increase the temperature of 1 kilogram of a substance by 1 degree Celsius ($\Delta T$).

Here's the formula:
$c = \frac{Q}{m \Delta T}$

Let's Look at Some Examples

• Water: 4.18 J/kg°C
• Aluminium: 0.897 J/kg°C
• Lead: 0.128 J/kg°C

This means that water can take in a lot of heat without changing temperature much.

Water is really important for keeping temperatures steady in many processes.

Different materials react to heat in different ways.

This is important for how we design things and understand chemical reactions in real life.