# What is the heat required to raise "1 g" of a sample by 1^@"C"?

Jul 12, 2016

#### Explanation:

By definition, the heat required to raise the temperature of $\text{1 g}$ of a substance by ${1}^{\circ} \text{C}$, or by $\text{1 K}$, for that matter, is called specific heat.

The symbol used for specific heat is lower-case $c$. Since it represents the heat needed per unit of mass to produce a ${1}^{\circ} \text{C}$ increase in temperature, the units for specific heat will be

$c = \left[{\text{J g"^(-1)""^@"C}}^{- 1}\right]$

For example, water has a specific heat of approximately

${c}_{\text{water" = "4.2 J g"^(-1)""^@"C}}^{- 1}$

This means that in order to increase the temperature of $\text{1 g}$ of liquid water by ${1}^{\circ} \text{C}$, you must provide it with $\text{4.2 J}$ of heat.

You can thus say that for samples of equal masses, substances with higher specific heat values will require more heat to experience the same increase in temperature as substances with lower specific heat values.