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Specific heat capacity is the amount of energy (generally heat) needed to raise the temperture of a 1kg substance by 1°C. The symbol for specific heat capacity is c. To find a quantity you use a formula. To use the formula you need to know three of these four things: - The mass of the substance in kg - The temperature increase or decrease in degrees C - The amount of energy (in joules) added to the substance - The specific heat capacity of the substance c = energy ____________________ Mass x temp. change Eg # 1: A 1.5 kg substance increases in temperature from 20° C to 45° C. The substance has 2500 J of energy added. Find the specific heat capacity of the substance. Eg # 2: The specific heat capacity of water is 4200 J/kg·°C. You heat 500 g of water and raise its temperature from 15°C to 95°C. Find the energy needed. The mass is 0.5 kg, and the remperature change is 80 °C. Notice that you have to solve this one backwards, since we're looking for E: 4200 = E/40 168,000 J = E |
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