Question

Specific heat capacity is

a. the capacity of a substance to gain or lose a 1.00 j of energy in the form of heat.
b. the temperature change undergone when 1.00 g of a substance absorbs 4.184 j.
c. the maximum amount of energy in the form of heat that 1.00 g of a substance may absorb without decomposing.
d. the quantity of heat needed to change the temperature of 1.00 g of a substance by 1 k.
e. the quantity of heat needed to change the temperature of 1.00 g of a substance by 4.184 k.

Answer 1

Specific heat capacity is the quantity of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of a substance by 1°C or 1 K. The correct definition in the context given is that it's the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of a substance by 1 K.

Step-by-step explanation:

Specific heat capacity is commonly defined as the quantity of heat needed to change the temperature of 1.00 g of a substance by 1 degree Celsius (or 1 kelvin). This characteristic is an intensive property, meaning it is independent of the mass of the sample and is a characteristic of the material itself.

The correct option that defines specific heat capacity is 'd. the quantity of heat needed to change the temperature of 1.00 g of a substance by 1 K'. This is because specific heat is measured in units of joules per gram per degree Celsius (J/g°C) or joules per gram per kelvin (J/g•K).

Additional information: Heat capacity is the total amount of heat energy required to raise the temperature of an entire object, and it does depend on the object's mass. The specific heat capacity, or 'specific heat,' makes this an intrinsic property by dividing the heat capacity by the substance's mass.