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:
- Determine whether you want to warm up the sample (give it some thermal energy) or cool it down (take some thermal energy away).
- 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.
- 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.
- Determine the mass of the sample. We will assume m = 5 kg.
- 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:
c = Q / (mΔT)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.
- Find the initial and final temperature as well as the mass of the sample and energy supplied.
- Subtract the final and initial temperature to get the change in temperature (ΔT).
- Multiply the change in temperature with the mass of the sample.
- Divide the heat supplied/energy with the product.
- 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.
Updated February 12, 2020
By Claire Gillespie
Reviewed by: Lana Bandoim, B.S.
Some chemical reactions release energy by heat. In other words, they transfer heat to their surroundings. These are known as exothermic reactions: "Exo" relates to external, or outside, and "thermic" means heat.
Some examples of exothermic reactions include combustion (burning), oxidation reactions (rusting) and neutralization reactions between acids and alkalis. Many everyday items like hand warmers and self-heating cans for coffee and other hot beverages undergo exothermic reactions.
To calculate the amount of heat released in a chemical reaction, use the equation Q = mc ΔT, where Q is the heat energy transferred (in joules), m is the mass of the liquid being heated (in kilograms), c is the specific heat capacity of the liquid (joule per kilogram degrees Celsius), and ΔT is the change in temperature of the liquid (degrees Celsius).
It's important to remember that temperature and heat are not the same thing. Temperature is a measure of how hot something is, measured in degrees Celsius or degrees Fahrenheit, while heat is a measure of the thermal energy contained in an object measured in joules.
When heat energy transfers to an object, its temperature increase depends on:
- the mass of the object
- the substance the object is made from
- the amount of energy applied to the object
The more heat energy transferred to an object, the greater its temperature increase.
The specific heat capacity (c) of a substance is the amount of energy needed to change the temperature of 1 kg of the substance by 1 unit of temperature. Different substances have different specific heat capacities, for example, water has a specific heat capacity of 4,181 joules/kg degrees C, oxygen has a specific heat capacity of 918 joules/kg degrees C, and lead has a specific heat capacity of 128 joules/kg degrees C.
To calculate the energy required to raise the temperature of a known mass of a substance, you use the specific heat formula:
Q is the energy transferred in joules, m is the mass of the substances in kg, c is the specific heat capacity in J/kg degrees C, and ΔT is the temperature change in degrees C in the specific heat formula.
Imagine 100 g of an acid was mixed with 100 g of an alkali, which resulted in the temperature increase from 24 degrees C to 32 degrees C.
The equation for a neutralization reaction between an acid and an alkali can be reduced to:
H+ + OH- --> H2O
The formula to use: Q = mc ∆T
Mass = m = 100 g + 100 g / 1000 g per kg = 0.2 g (one significant figure)
Specific heat capacity of water = c = 4,186 J/kg degrees C
Change in temperature = ΔT = 24 degrees C - 32 degrees C = -8 degrees C
Q = (0.2 kg) (4,186 J/kg degrees C) (-8 degrees C )
Q = -6,688 J, which means 6,688 joules of heat is released.