Final answer:
Specific heat is the energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of a substance by 1°C, measured in J/g°C or J/gK. Substances with a high specific heat require more energy to change their temperature, which is important for understanding heat transfer.
Step-by-step explanation:
Specific heat (Cs) is defined as the amount of energy, usually quantified in joules, needed to increase the temperature of 1 gram of a substance by 1°C (or 1K). This concept is essential in understanding how substances absorb and transfer heat. The larger the specific heat, the more energy is required to change a substance's temperature. Thus, substances with a high specific heat can absorb a lot of heat without a significant change in temperature.
The SI units of measurement for specific heat are joules per gram per degree Celsius (J/g°C) or joules per gram per Kelvin (J/gK). However, specific heat can also be expressed in non-SI units such as calories per gram per degree Celsius (cal/g°C), where 1 calorie is the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1°C. An exact relationship exists between the calorie and joule, establishing a basis for converting between these units.
Every substance has a characteristic specific heat, indicating its capacity to store thermal energy; this quantity is critical for calculations involving heat transfer and temperature change, especially in the field of calorimetry.