The price tag on a degree
Warming things up costs energy, and every material posts its price: the specific heat capacity , in joules per kilogram per degree. Water's price tag is — 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 (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: hands you joules, and answers usually want kilojoules — is , and keeping everything in kJ keeps the numbers small enough to trust.
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