Heating different substances
I can explain how a material’s specific heat capacity describes how easily it is heated or how much energy it transfers as it cools.
Heating different substances
I can explain how a material’s specific heat capacity describes how easily it is heated or how much energy it transfers as it cools.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- Different hot metals, of the same mass and starting temperature, heat a fixed amount of water by different amounts.
- The energy a material has because its particles are moving with forces between them can be labelled internal energy.
- The larger the specific heat capacity of a material, the more energy transferred to increase its temperature by 1ºC.
- The larger the specific heat capacity of a material, the more heating it does as its temperature falls by 1ºC.
Common misconception
Pupils confuse ideas about temperature and energy.
Use examples in different contexts to develop and consolidate ideas about differences between temperature and energy.
Keywords
Temperature - a measure of how hot a substance is; it is related to the kinetic energy of the individual particles
Specific heat capacity - the change in internal energy when the temperature of 1 kg of the material changes by 1°C
Internal energy - the sum of the kinetic energy and potential energy of the particles something is made of
Kinetic energy - the energy an object has because of it's motion
Potential energy - the energy an object has because of its position and the forces acting on it
Licence
This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).
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Starter quiz
6 Questions
kilograms
degrees Celsius
joules
seconds
Exit quiz
6 Questions
a measure of how hot or cold a substance is
change in energy when the temp. of 1 kg of a substance changes by 1°C
sum of the kinetic and potential energy of particles in a substance
the energy an object or particle has because of its motion
the energy an object has because of its position and the forces acting