Tag Archives: heat capacity

The specific heat coefficient of a substance is the heat capacity divided by the mass. It is the amount of energy that must be added, in the form of heat, to one unit of mass of the substance in order to cause an increase of one unit in its temperature. The SI unit of specific heat is joule per kelvin and kilogram, J/(K kg).For example, at a temperature of 25 °C (the specific heat capacity can vary with the temperature), the heat required to raise the temperature of 1 kg of water by 1 K (equivalent to 1 °C) is 4.179,6 joules, meaning that the specific heat of water is 4.179,6 J·kg⁻¹·K⁻¹.