specific heat

American  

noun

Physics.

1. the number of calories required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of a substance 1°C, or the number of BTU's per pound per degree F.

2. (originally) the ratio of the thermal capacity of a substance to that of standard material.

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specific heat Scientific  

1. See under heat capacity

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specific heat Cultural  

1. The amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of one gram of a substance by one degree Celsius, or to raise the temperature of one pound of a substance by one degree Fahrenheit (see also Fahrenheit).

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Etymology

Origin of specific heat

First recorded in 1825–35

Compare meaning

How does specific-heat compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• heat capacity vs. specific heat

Example Sentences

Additional evidence came from specific heat measurements, which supported the idea that these predicted emergent photons follow a dispersion resembling the way sound moves through a solid.

From Science Daily • Dec. 17, 2025

“Without a specific heat standard, it makes it more challenging for regulators to decide, ‘OK, this employer’s breaking the law or not.’”

From Washington Times • Aug. 28, 2023

Values of specific heat must generally be looked up in tables, because there is no simple way to calculate them.

From Textbooks • Aug. 12, 2015

The reason is that water has a greater specific heat than most common substances and thus undergoes a small temperature change for a given heat transfer.

From Textbooks • Aug. 12, 2015

Now Mayer assumed that the excess of the specific heat Cp above Cv was the thermal equivalent of the work pdv done in the former case.

From Lord Kelvin An account of his scientific life and work by Gray, Andrew