What does a high specific heat tell about a substance?
1 Answer
Specific heat capacity is a measure of how much heat energy a material can hold per kilogram per kelvin, its units are usually given as
If an object's specific heat capacity was
A high specific heat capacity means it can hold a large amount of thermal energy in for a low mass or temperature change. It is also good at keeping in thermal energy, for example:
Object:
Mass = 3kg
S.H.C. = 3.5
Liquid:
Mass = 3kg
S.H.C = ?
As you can see, because of the liquid's high S.H.C. it gained the same amount of heat energy as the object lost, with a smaller temperature change.