Required Practical: Specific Heat Capacity

This lesson covers the concept of specific heat capacity and the required practical for determining it experimentally. Specific heat capacity is a key part of the AQA GCSE Physics specification (Section 4.1) and is one of the required practicals that you must know in detail for the exam.

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What Is Specific Heat Capacity?

Specific heat capacity is the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of a substance by 1 degree Celsius (or 1 kelvin).

Different substances have different specific heat capacities. A substance with a high specific heat capacity requires a lot of energy to change its temperature, while a substance with a low specific heat capacity changes temperature easily.

The Specific Heat Capacity Equation

E = m x c x change in temperature

Where:

• E = energy transferred in joules (J)
• m = mass in kilograms (kg)
• c = specific heat capacity in joules per kilogram per degree Celsius (J/kg degC)
• change in temperature = temperature change in degrees Celsius (degC)