On Specific Heat

INTRODUCTION: Heat capacity of a body is the quantity of heat required to raise the temperature of the body by 1C. The specific heat of a substance is the heat capacity per unit mass. Thus, heat capacity = mass x specific heat. The specific heat is essentially a measure of how thermally insensitive a substance is to the addition of energy. The water equivalent of a body is the mass of water, which would require the same amount of heat as the body in order to raise the temperature through one degree Celsius.