Why is heat capacity different for different materials?

1 Answer
Sep 25, 2015

Because 1g of one substance does not contain the same number of atoms in another substance.

Explanation:

Specific heat capacity by definition is the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of 1g of a substance by one degree.

Raising the temperature of a substance means changing the average kinetic energy of its particles.

Since all substances are made from different particles (atoms) that have different masses, therefore, 1g of one substance will not contain the same number of particles in 1g of another substance.

For example, the molar mass of copper is 63.55 g/mol and the molar mass of sulfur is 32.07 g/mol, therefore, in 1g of sulfur there will be twice as many atoms as in 1g of copper, and therefore, the specific heat capacity of sulfur will be higher (0.73 J/(g.""^@C) than the specific heat capacity of copper (0.385 J/(g.""^@C).