Two substances have the same mass and are both initially at 200°C. They both absorb 150 J of energy. Which substance will have the higher temperature, the one with the higher or the lower specific heat?

Question

Cameron Andrews · Accepted Answer

The one with the lower specific heat.

A substance's specific heat tells you how much heat must be added to / removed from a #"1-g"# sample of this substance in order to get its temperature to change by #1^@"C"#. When energy in the form of heat is absorbed, a substance's specific heat tells you exactl;y how much heat is needed in order to increase the temperature of #"1 g"# of this substance by #1^@"C"#. This means that the higher the specific heat of a substance, the more heat will be needed in order to get the temperature of #"1 g"# to increase by #1^@"C"#. In your case, two substances, let's say #A# and #B#, start at the temperature, #200^@"C"# and they both absorb #"150 J"# of heat. Moreover, they both have the same mass. If the specific heat of #A# is higher than the specific heat of #B#, you can say that it will take more energy to raise the temperature of #A# by #1^@"C"# than to raise the temperature of #B# by #1^@"C"#. So, if #B# absorbs #"150 J"# and gets to a final temperature #T_B#, the fact that #A# has a higher specific heat will tell you that absorbing #"150 J"# of heat will not get the final temperature of #A#, #T_A#, to the same value as #T_B#. Thus, one could say that #T_A < T_B# More heat will be generated by the substance with the lower specific heat than by the one with the higher specific heat.

Mateo Aguilar · Answer

undefined The substance with the lower specific heat will have the higher temperature. This is because substances with lower specific heat require less energy to raise their temperature compared to substances with higher specific heat. Therefore, with the same amount of energy absorbed, the substance with the lower specific heat will experience a greater increase in temperature.