Grade 10 Science · Specific Heat Capacity
The price tag on a degree
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The price tag on a degree

Warming things up costs energy, and every material posts its price: the specific heat capacity cc, in joules per kilogram per degree. Water's price tag is 4200 J/(kgC)4200\ \mathrm{J/(kg\cdot{}^{\circ}C)} — 4200 joules to push one kilogram up one degree. That is a famously steep price (most metals charge a tenth of it or less), and it is why a lake stays cool all afternoon while the beach sand scorches.

The bill is Q=mcΔTQ = mc\,\Delta T (read aloud: Q equals m c delta-T — the kilograms, times the price per kilogram per degree, times the degrees climbed. Say it out loud once; a formula you can say is a formula you own. One friendly bookkeeping note: cc hands you joules, and answers usually want kilojoules — 4200 J4200\ \mathrm{J} is 4.2 kJ4.2\ \mathrm{kJ}, and keeping everything in kJ keeps the numbers small enough to trust.