Subject Code PHY 3 PHYSICS 3
Module Code 4.0 Consequences of Heat Transfer
Lesson Code 4.1 Temperature Change
Time Frame 30 minutes
1 2
TA ATA
Components Tasks
(min) (min)
Target By the end of this learning guide, the student should be able 1
to:
● explain the physical meaning of specific heat; and
● compare substances differing in specific heat.
Hook Why do you like to stay inside an air-conditioned room? 2
The most common reason is because the temperature inside
the air-conditioned room is cooler than outside the room. You
want to feel cooler so that you do not sweat. For the same
reason, more people will come in the air-conditioned room.
However, as more people come in, they release more heat to
the room. As more heat is released, what will happen to the
temperature inside the room?
Figure 1. Students inside the room tend to face the air-conditioner for a cooler
environment.
Ignite For substances, the amount of energy necessary to raise the 9
temperature of one gram of a specific substance by one
degree is historically called calorie or cal. In SI units, 1 cal =
4.186 J. For example, raising the temperature of one kilogram
of water by 1 o C requires 4,186 J of energy. However, for one
kilogram of an arbitrary substance, the amount of energy
required to raise the substance’s temperature by 1 o C, depends
1
Time allocation suggested by the teacher.
2
Actual time allocation spent by the student (for information purposes only).
Physics 3 Temperature Change Page 1 of 4
on the substance. This physical property of a substance is
called specific heat and is denoted by the symbol c (in
thermodynamics) (Be careful not to confuse this with c as the
speed of light in vacuum). The temperature difference can be
anywhere between the initial temperature Ti and final
temperature Tf .
We now can define the specific heat c of a substance, as
c=
Q
m∆T
[eqn 1]
where Q is the heat energy, m is the mass of the substance,
and ΔT is the temperature difference Δ T = Tf - Ti . The unit
for temperature difference may be in Celsius or Kelvin, since
both are linearly related. The SI unit for c is joules per
kilogram-degree Celsius (J / kg · o C).
The derived form of Equation 1 (and is a more popular form)
emphasizes the amount of heat energy required to change the
temperature of a substance, is given by
Q = mc∆T = mc (T f − T i ) [eqn 2]
The specific heats of some substances are given in Table 1.
Table 1. Specific heat of some substances (Halliday, 2014)
Substance Specific Heat, c
(at room temperature) cal/ g·K J/ kg·K
Lead 0.0305 128
Tungsten 0.0321 134
Silver 0.0564 236
Copper 0.0923 386
Aluminum 0.215 900
Brass 0.092 380
Granite 0.19 790
Glass 0.20 840
Ice (at -10oC) 0.530 2220
Mercury 0.033 140
Ethyl alcohol 0.58 2430
Seawater 0.93 3900
Water 1.00 4187
These specific heats may be compared for various
applications. One example would be to determine which
substance is best in open-fire cooking. Materials such as steel,
cast iron, copper, and aluminium are often used for pots and
pans due to their low specific heats since they heat up
quickly.
Physics 3 Temperature Change Page 2 of 4
Navigate Answer the following questions on a sheet of paper. Please 16
consult your teacher on guidelines of submission. All items will
be graded.
1. (Level 1&2) A certain amount of heat Q will warm 1 g of
material A by 3 C° and 1 g of material B b y 4 C°. Which
material has the greater specific heat? Why? (Halliday,
2014)
2. (Level 1&2) A certain diet doctor encourages people to
diet by drinking ice water. His theory is that the body
must burn off enough fat to raise the temperature of the
water from 0.00 o C to the body temperature of 37.0 o C.
How many liters of ice water would have to be consumed
to burn off 454 g (about 1 lb) of fat, assuming that
burning this much fat requires 3,500 cal be transferred to
the ice water? Why is it not advisable to follow this diet?
(One liter = 103 cm3. The density of water is 1.00 g/cm3).
(Halliday, 2014)
3. (Level 1&2) During a bout with the flu, an 80-kg man
ran a fever of 39.0 o C, instead of the normal body
temperature of 37.0 o C. Assuming that the human body is
mostly water, how much heat is required to raise his
temperature by that amount? (Young, 2016)
4. (Level 1&2) Imagine you have 1 kg each of copper, glass,
and water, and all three samples are at 10 °C. Show your
solutions for the following questions.
A. Rank the samples from highest to lowest
temperature after 100 J of energy is added to each
sample.
B. Rank the samples from greatest to least amount of
energy transferred by heat if each sample
increases in temperature by 20 °C. (Serway, 2014)
Knot Heat transfer changes the temperature of a given substance. The 2
amount by which the temperature changes is affected by the
mass of the substance, the amount of heat transferred and the
specific heat. Specific heat is an intrinsic property of a
substance which can be used in various applications.
References:
1. Halliday, D., Resnick, R., & Walker, J. (2014). Halliday and Resnick Fundamentals of
Physics. Hoboken: Wiley.
2. Serway, R. A., & Jewett, J. W. (2014). Physics for Scientists and Engineers with Modern
Physics. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.
3. Young, H. D., Freedman, R. A., & Ford, A. L. (2016). Sears and Zemansky’s University
Physics: With Modern Physics. Harlow: Pearson.
Physics 3 Temperature Change Page 3 of 4
