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Question
What is specific heat capacity?
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Solution
- The specific heat capacity of a substance is defined as the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 kg of the substance by 1°C or 1 K.
- Q = mC∆T, where Q is the quantity of heat required to raise the temperature and m is the mass of the body and AT is the change in temperature of the body.
- The SI unit of specific heat capacity is Jkg– 1 K– 1. The most commonly used units of specific heat capacity are J/kg°C and J/g°C.
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RELATED QUESTIONS
Given below are observations on molar specific heats at room temperature of some common gases.
| Gas |
Molar specific heat (Cv) (cal mol–1 K–1) |
| Hydrogen | 4.87 |
| Nitrogen | 4.97 |
| Oxygen | 5.02 |
| Nitric oxide | 4.99 |
| Carbon monoxide | 5.01 |
| Chlorine | 6.17 |
The measured molar specific heats of these gases are markedly different from those for monatomic gases. Typically, molar specific heat of a monatomic gas is 2.92 cal/mol K. Explain this difference. What can you infer from the somewhat larger (than the rest) value for chlorine?
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