Question

How will you calculate the specific heat capacity given heat flow, mass and temperature change ?

Answer 1

Hint: We can start to attempt this question by defining what specific heat capacity is and from the definition we will be able to come up with a formula to find the specific heat capacity of a substance. From this step we get our required solution.

Formulas used:
The formula to find the heat of a substance is given by,
$Q = mC\Delta T$
Where, $m$ is the mass of the substance taken, $\Delta T$ is the change in temperature and $C$ is the specific heat capacity.

Complete step by step answer:
Specific heat capacity of a substance can be defined as the heat required to raise the temperature of unit mass of a given substance by one degree. From the above definition we can say that specific capacity is the temperature per mass per one-degree Celsius. That is, if we take $m$ is the mass of the substance taken, $\Delta T$ is the change in temperature,$C$ is the specific heat capacity and $Q$ is the heat.Then the specific heat capacity is given as,
$C = \dfrac{Q}{{m\Delta T}}$

Thus, we will be able to find the value of specific heat capacity with given heat flow, mass and temperature change using the formula $C = \dfrac{Q}{{m\Delta T}}$.

Note: There are a wide variety of applications depending on the specific heat capacity of the material. For instance, substances with specific heat capacities are used for cooking purposes. This is because they will be able to raise the temperature of the given substance at a much lesser temperature than those with a greater specific heat capacity. Water is used as coolant in vehicles because of its high value of specific heat. This allows water to absorb some amount of heat from the car.