Chemistry Unit 4 Lesson 5

the specific heat of water depends upon its state—solid, liquid, or gas.

-metals usually have low specific heats -liquid water and ammonia usually have high specific heats

How do you find the specific heat of a substance?

1. Fill the calorimeter with a known amount of water and measure its initial temperature. 2. Measure the mass of the substance of interest. 3. Heat the substance of interest to a known temperature. Typically, the substance can be heated in a boiling-water bath, where it will eventually reach 100°C. 4. Place the hot substance into the calorimeter. The temperature of the water will increase. 5. Measure the final temperature of the water. -If you know the mass of the substance, the mass of the water, the temperature changes of both the substance and the water, and the specific heat of the water, you can calculate the substance's specific heat.

You can use specific heats to identify substances.

Different materials have different specific heat values, so if you calculate the specific heat of an unknown substance, you can look up this value on a table and find out what the substance is. The example here shows how this is done.

Heat capacity is the ability of a substance to store or release thermal energy.

Each substance has a unique heat capacity, which we call specific heat. These concepts are fundamental to heating and cooling objects. They also play major roles in heating and cooling systems. Here you will learn about heat capacity, specific heat, and various cooling systems.

Specific heat capacity refers to individual substances.

Heat capacity refers to the amount of heat needed to raise or lower an object's temperature. But is the heat capacity of a one-gram object the same as that of a one-kilogram object? What about the material that the object is made of? Does that affect its heat capacity?

Specific Heat

Specific heat (C) is the amount of heat energy that it takes to raise the temperature of one gram of a specific substance by one degree Celsius. This definition takes into account the mass of the substance. Furthermore, individual substances have unique heat capacities, as you can see here. The term specific heat is most often used, but heat capacity is an equally descriptive term.

Why does it take longer to heat water compared to a metal pan?

Substances do vary in their ability to store thermal energy. This property is called heat capacity. The heat capacity is an indication of how fast an object heats or cools. Scientists and engineers take advantage of this property when choosing construction materials and when designing heating and cooling systems for cars.

Substances with high specific heats are used to transfer heat.

True!

When considering certain factors, you can no longer just refer to it as "heat capacity"

you must refer to it as specific heat capacity, or specific heat.