This specific heat calculator is a tool that determines the heat capacity of a heated or a cooled sample. Specific heat is the amount of thermal energy you need to supply to a sample weighing 1 kg to increase its temperature by 1 K. Read on to learn how to apply the heat capacity formula correctly to obtain a valid result. 💡 This calculator works in various ways, so you can also use it to, for example, calculate the heat needed to cause a temperature change (if you know the specific heat). If you have to achieve the temperature change in a determined time, use our watts to heat calculator to know the power required. To find specific heat from a complex experiment, calorimetry calculator might make the calculations much faster. Prefer watching over reading? Learn all you need in 90 seconds with this video we made for you:
If you have problems with the units, feel free to use our temperature conversion or weight conversion calculators.
The formula for specific heat looks like this: c = Q / (mΔT)Q is the amount of supplied or subtracted heat (in joules), m is the mass of the sample, and ΔT is the difference between the initial and final temperatures. Heat capacity is measured in J/(kg·K).
You don't need to use the heat capacity calculator for most common substances. The values of specific heat for some of the most popular ones are listed below.
Having this information, you can also calculate how much energy you need to supply to a sample to increase or decrease its temperature. For instance, you can check how much heat you need to bring a pot of water to the boil to cook some pasta. Wondering what the result actually means? Try our potential energy calculator to check how high you would raise the sample with this amount of energy. Or check how fast could the sample move with this kinetic energy calculator.
The specific heat capacity is the heat or energy required to change one unit mass of a substance of a constant volume by 1 °C. The formula is Cv = Q / (ΔT ⨉ m).
The formula for specific heat capacity, C, of a substance with mass m, is C = Q /(m ⨉ ΔT). Where Q is the energy added and ΔT is the change in temperature. The specific heat capacity during different processes, such as constant volume, Cv and constant pressure, Cp, are related to each other by the specific heat ratio, ɣ= Cp/Cv, or the gas constant R = Cp - Cv.
Specific heat capacity is measured in J/kg K or J/kg C, as it is the heat or energy required during a constant volume process to change the temperature of a substance of unit mass by 1 °C or 1 °K.
The specific heat of water is 4179 J/kg K, the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 g of water by 1 Kelvin.
Specific heat is measured in BTU / lb °F in imperial units and in J/kg K in SI units.
The specific heat of copper is 385 J/kg K. You can use this value to estimate the energy required to heat a 100 g of copper by 5 °C, i.e., Q = m x Cp x ΔT = 0.1 * 385 * 5 = 192.5 J.
The specific heat of aluminum is 897 J/kg K. This value is almost 2.3 times of the specific heat of copper. You can use this value to estimate the energy required to heat a 500 g of aluminum by 5 °C, i.e., Q = m x Cp x ΔT = 0.5 * 897* 5 = 2242.5 J. |