Which of the following measures the amount of energy it takes to raise the temperature of an entire object by 1?

In order to continue enjoying our site, we ask that you confirm your identity as a human. Thank you very much for your cooperation.

The SI-unit of heat - or energy - is joule (J).

With temperature difference 

Other units used to quantify heat are the British Thermal Unit - Btu (the amount of heat to raise 1 lb of water by 1oF) and the Calorie (the amount of heat to raise 1 gram of water by 1oC (or 1 K)).

• more  about degrees Celsius and degrees Kelvin

A calorie is defined as the amount of heat required to change the temperature of one gram of liquid water by one degree Celsius (or one degree Kelvin).

1 cal = 4.184 J

1 J = 1 Ws

      = (1 Ws) (1/3600 h/s)

      = 2.78 10-4 Wh

      = 2.78 10-7 kWh

Heat Flow (Power)

Heat-transfer as result of temperature difference alone is referred to as heat flow. The SI units for heat flow is J/s or watt (W) - the same as power. One watt is defined as 1 J/s.

Specific Enthalpy

Specific Enthalpy is a measure of the total energy in a unit mass. The SI-unit commonly used is J/kg or kJ/kg.

The term relates to the total energy due to both pressure and temperature of a fluid (such as water or steam) at any given time and condition. More specifically enthalpy is the sum of internal energy and work done by applied pressure.

Heat Capacity

Heat Capacity of a system is

• the amount of heat required to change the temperature of the whole system by one degree.

Specific Heat

Specific heat  (= specific heat capacity) is the amount of heat required to change temperature of one mass unit of a substance by one degree.

Specific heat may be measured in J/g K, J/kg K, kJ/kg K, cal/gK or Btu/lboF and more. 

Never use tabulated values of heat capacity without checking the unites of the actual values!

• Specific heat unit converter

Specific heat for common products and materials can be found in the Material Properties section.

Specific Heat - Constant Pressure

The enthalpy - or internal energy -  of a substance is a function of its temperature and pressure.

The change in internal energy with respect to change in temperature at fixed pressure is the Specific Heat at constant pressure - cp.

Specific Heat - Constant Volume

The change in internal energy with respect to change in temperature at fixed volume is the Specific Heat at constant volume - cv.

Unless the pressure is extremely high the work done by applied pressure on solids and liquids can be neglected, and enthalpy can be represented by the internal energy component alone. Constant-volume and constant-pressure heats can be said to be equal.

For solids and liquids

cp = cv                                            (1)

The specific heat represents the amount of energy required to raise 1 kg of substance by 1oC (or 1 K), and can be thought of as the ability to absorb heat. The SI units of specific heats are J/kgK (kJ/kgoC). Water has a large specific heat of 4.19 kJ/kgoC compared to many other fluids and materials.

• Water is a good heat carrier!

Amount of Heat Required to Rise Temperature

The amount of heat needed to heat a subject from one temperature level to an other can be expressed as:

Q = cp m dT                                                (2)

where

Q = amount of heat (kJ)

cp = specific heat (kJ/kgK)

m = mass (kg)

dT = temperature difference between hot and cold side (K)

Example Heating Water

Consider the energy required to heat 1.0 kg of water from 0 oC to 100 oC when the specific heat of water is 4.19 kJ/kgoC:

Q = (4.19 kJ/kgoC) (1.0 kg) ((100 oC) - (0 oC))

    = 419 (kJ)

Work

Work and energy are from a technical viewpoint the same entity - but work is the result when a directional force (vector) moves an object in the same direction.

The amount of mechanical work done can be determined by an equation derived from Newtonian mechanics

Work = Applied force x Distance moved in the direction of the force 

or 

W = F l                                              (3)

where 

W = work (Nm, J)

F = applied force (N)

l = length or distance moved (m)

Work can also be described as the product of the applied pressure and the displaced volume:

Work = Applied pressure x Displaced volume

or

W = p A l                                             (3b)

where

p = applied pressure (N/m2, Pa)

A = pressurized area (m2)

l = length or distance the pressurized area is moved by the applied force (m)

Example - Work done by a Force

The work done by a force 100 N moving a body 50 m can be calculated as 

W = (100 N) (50 m)

  = 5000 (Nm, J)

The unit of work is joule, J, which is defined as the amount of work done when a force of 1 newton acts for a distance of 1 m in the direction of the force.

1 J = 1 Nm

Example - Work due to Gravitational Force

The work done when lifting a mass of 100 kg an elevation of 10 m can be calculated as 

W = Fg h

   = m g h

  = (100 kg) (9.81 m/s2) (10 m)

  = 9810 (Nm, J)

where

Fg = force of gravity - or weight (N)

g = acceleration of gravity 9.81 (m/s2)

h = elevation (m)

In imperial units a unit work is done when a weight of 1 lbf (pound-force) is lifted vertically against gravity through a distance of 1 foot. The unit is called lb ft.

An object with mass 10 slugs is lifted 10 feet. The work done can be calculated as

  W = Fg h

     = m g h

     = (10 slugs) (32.17405 ft/s2) (10 feet)

     = 3217 lbf ft

Example - Work due to Change in Velocity

The work done when a mass of 100 kg is accelerated from a velocity of 10 m/s to a velocity of 20 m/s can be calculated as

W = (v22 - v12) m / 2

  = ((20 m/s)2 - (10 m/s)2) (100 kg) / 2

  = 15000 (Nm, J)

where

v2 = final velocity (m/s)

v1 = initial velocity (m/s)

Energy

Energy is the capacity to do work (a translation from Greek-"work within"). The SI unit for work and energy is the joule, defined as 1 Nm.

Moving objects can do work because they have kinetic energy. ("kinetic" means "motion" in Greek).

The amount of kinetic energy possessed by an object can be calculated as

Ek =1/2 m v2                                             (4)  

where

m = mass of the object (kg)

v = velocity (m/s)

The energy of a level position (stored energy) is called potential energy. This is energy associated with forces of attraction and repulsion between objects (gravity).

The total energy of a system is composed of the internal, potential and kinetic energy. The temperature of a substance is directly related to its internal energy. The internal energy is associated with the motion, interaction and bonding of the molecules within a substance. The external energy of a substance is associated with its velocity and location, and is the sum of its potential and kinetic energy.

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:

1. Determine whether you want to warm up the sample (give it some thermal energy) or cool it down (take some thermal energy away).
2. Insert the amount of energy supplied as a positive value. If you want to cool down the sample, insert the subtracted energy as a negative value. For example, say that we want to reduce the sample's thermal energy by 63,000 J. Then Q = -63,000 J.
3. Decide the temperature difference between the initial and final state of the sample and type it into the heat capacity calculator. If the sample is cooled down, the difference will be negative, and if warmed up - positive. Let's say we want to cool the sample down by 3 degrees. Then ΔT = -3 K. You can also go to advanced mode to type the initial and final values of temperature manually.
4. Determine the mass of the sample. We will assume m = 5 kg.
5. Calculate specific heat as c = Q / (mΔT). In our example, it will be equal to c = -63,000 J / (5 kg * -3 K) = 4,200 J/(kg·K). This is the typical heat capacity of water.

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:

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.

• ice: 2,100 J/(kg·K)
• water: 4,200 J/(kg·K)
• water vapor: 2,000 J/(kg·K)
• basalt: 840 J/(kg·K)
• granite: 790 J/(kg·K)
• aluminum: 890 J/(kg·K)
• iron: 450 J/(kg·K)
• copper: 380 J/(kg·K)
• lead: 130 J/(kg·K)

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.

1. Find the initial and final temperature as well as the mass of the sample and energy supplied.
2. Subtract the final and initial temperature to get the change in temperature (ΔT).
3. Multiply the change in temperature with the mass of the sample.
4. Divide the heat supplied/energy with the product.
5. The formula is C = Q / (ΔT ⨉ m).

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.