There are five steps involved in determining specific heat.
1. Consider whether you want to warm a sample up or cool it down.
2. Write down the energy amount as a positive value. If you are cooling a sample, enter a negative value. For example, cooling down a thermal energy sample of 30,000 J would be
Q = - 30,000 J.
3. Establish the temperature difference between the initial and final state. Enter the information into the heat capacity calculator. If you cool the sample, it will be negative. If you warm it up, it will be positive. For example, a sample you cool by five degrees will look like this:
ΔT = - 5 K
4. Identify the sample mass. For this example, we’ll say it’s:
M = 7 pounds
5. Calculate the heat as:
c = Q / (m x ΔT)
With the example information looking like this:
c = -30,000 J / (7 lb * -5 K) = -1,889.677 J/(kg*K).
The formula for heat capacity is below:
c = Q / (m x ΔT)
Q = supplied or subtracted heat in joules
M = the sample’s mass
ΔT = initial and final temperature difference
J/(kg*K) = heat capacity measurement type
Specific Heat Values
The heat capacity calculator is going to be useful in many situations. However, you may not need it in the case of typical specific heat values. Some of these are below:
Ice: 2,100 J / (KG * K)
Aluminum: 890 J / (KG * K)
Lead: 130 J / (KG * K)
Water: 4,200 J / (KG * K)
Vapor of water: 2,000 J / (KG * K)
Granite: 790 J / (KG *K)
Basalt: 840 J / (KG * K)
Iron: 450 J / (KG * K)
Copper: 380 J / (KG * K)
Now, you have all the information needed for specific heat calculations. Use it to increase and decrease the heat in supply samples. Why not work out how much heat you need to bring water to a boil? There is so much you can do with specific heat calculation.
