How do specific heats of metal compare to that of water?

1 Answer
May 7, 2014

The specific heats of metals (usually less than one) are less than that of water which is 4.18 J/gC

Specific heat is the amount of heat energy needed to raise the temperature by 1 degree Celsius for 1gram of the substance.

Compare the specific heat of water with three different metals

Liquid water 4.18 J/gC

Aluminum 0.897 J/gC

Lead 0.129 J /gC

Titanium. 0.523 J/gC

From these values, we can see that it takes much less energy to raise the temperature of a metal than it does for water.