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Temperature and Heat Are Not The Same Thing

Temperature is a measure of how hot an object is, while heat is a measure of the thermal energy in an object. When heat is transferred to an object, its temperature increases depending on its mass, substance, and amount of energy transferred. An object's specific heat capacity is the amount of energy needed to change its temperature by 1°C per 1 kg of mass. Water has a particularly high specific heat capacity, making it useful for storing and transporting heat in applications like central heating. The equation for calculating specific heat capacity relates the energy transferred to an object's mass, specific heat capacity, and temperature change.

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41 views2 pages

Temperature and Heat Are Not The Same Thing

Temperature is a measure of how hot an object is, while heat is a measure of the thermal energy in an object. When heat is transferred to an object, its temperature increases depending on its mass, substance, and amount of energy transferred. An object's specific heat capacity is the amount of energy needed to change its temperature by 1°C per 1 kg of mass. Water has a particularly high specific heat capacity, making it useful for storing and transporting heat in applications like central heating. The equation for calculating specific heat capacity relates the energy transferred to an object's mass, specific heat capacity, and temperature change.

Uploaded by

Calvin Chin
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Temperature and heat are not the same thing:

temperature is a measure of how hot something is

heat is a measure of the thermal energy contained in an object.

Temperature is measured in C, and heat is measured in J. When heat energy is


transferred to an object, its temperature increase depends upon the:

the mass of the object

the substance the object is made from

the amount energy transferred to the object.

For a particular object, the more heat energy transferred to it, the greater its
temperature increase.

Specific heat capacity


The specific heat capacity of a substance is the amount of energy needed to change
the temperature of 1 kg of the substance by 1C. Different substances have different
specific heat capacities. The table shows some examples.

Heat capacities of different substances


Substance
water
oxygen
lead

Specific heat capacity in J / kg C


4181
918
128

Notice that water has a particularly high specific heat capacity. This makes water
useful for storing heat energy, and for transporting it around the home using central
heating pipes.

Calculating specific heat capacity


Here is the equation relating energy to specific heat capacity:
E=mc

E is the energy transferred in joules, J

m is the mass of the substances in kg

c is the specific heat capacity in J / kg C

(theta) is the temperature change in degrees Celsius, C

For example, how much energy must be transferred to raise the temperature of 2 kg of
water from 20C to 30C?
E = m c ( = 30 20 = 10C)
E = 2 4181 10 = 83,620 J or 83.62 kJ

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