Final answer:
The correct statement about specific heat is that a substance with high specific heat resists changes in temperature more than a substance with low specific heat. Specific heat is intrinsic to a material and does not depend on mass, and water has a high specific heat, not low.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question revolves around the concept of specific heat, which is the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of a substance by 1°C at constant pressure. Looking at the statements provided and comparing them with the facts, we find that:
- A substance with high specific heat, like water, does indeed resist changes in temperature more than a substance with a lower specific heat. This is because more energy is required to increase the temperature of a substance with a high specific heat capacity.
- The specific heat is a characteristic of a material and does not depend on the mass of the object, so the statement about different masses resulting in different specific heats for the same material is incorrect.
- Water has a very high specific heat compared to most other substances (about 4.2 J/g °C for the liquid and 2.09 J/g °C for the solid), contrary to the statement that suggests water has an unusually low specific heat.
- All materials do not necessarily have distinct specific heats; similar materials can have similar specific heats.
Therefore, the correct statement about specific heat is A. A substance with high specific heat resists changes in temperature more than a substance with low specific heat.