Talk:Specific heat capacity

Please wait

Please wait until I am done to say whether I have improved or ruined the article. Thank you. --Jorge Stolfi (talk) 03:25, 11 May 2019 (UTC)

Removed section

I have removed the following section:

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Thermodynamic relations and definition of heat capacity {{anchor|Heat capacity}}

The change in temperature of a substance when a given quantity of heat is absorbed or rejected by it is called as heat capacity {taken from N.C.E.R.T.}. Written mathematically we have

$\Delta e_{\text{system}}=e_{\text{in}}-e_{\text{out}},$

or

$\mathrm {d} U=\delta Q-\delta W.$

For work as a result of an increase of the system volume we may write

$\mathrm {d} U=\delta Q-P\,\mathrm {d} V.$

If the heat is added at constant volume, then the second term of this relation vanishes, and one readily obtains

$\left({\frac {\partial U}{\partial T}}\right)_{V}=\left({\frac {\partial Q}{\partial T}}\right)_{V}=C_{V}.$

This defines the heat capacity at constant volume, $C$_V, which is also related to changes in internal energy. Another useful quantity is the heat capacity at constant pressure, $C$_P. This quantity refers to the change in the enthalpy of the system, which is given by

$H=U+PV.$

A small change in the enthalpy can be expressed as

$\mathrm {d} H=\mathrm {d} U+\,\mathrm {d} (PV),$

$\mathrm {d} H=\delta Q-\delta W+\,\mathrm {d} (PV),$

$\mathrm {d} H=\delta Q-P\mathrm {d} V+\,P\mathrm {d} V+\,V\mathrm {d} P,$

$\mathrm {d} H=\delta Q+V\,\mathrm {d} P,$

and therefore, at constant pressure, we have

$\left({\frac {\partial H}{\partial T}}\right)_{P}=\left({\frac {\partial Q}{\partial T}}\right)_{P}=C_{P}.$

These two equations:

$\left({\frac {\partial U}{\partial T}}\right)_{V}=\left({\frac {\partial Q}{\partial T}}\right)_{V}=C_{V},$

$\left({\frac {\partial H}{\partial T}}\right)_{P}=\left({\frac {\partial Q}{\partial T}}\right)_{P}=C_{P}$

are property relations and are therefore independent of the type of process. In other words, they are valid for any substance going through any process. Both the internal energy and enthalpy of a substance can change with the transfer of energy in many forms i.e., heat.<ref>''Thermodynamics: An Engineering Approach'' by Yunus A. Cengal and Michael A. Boles.</ref>

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This text has a number of problems that I do not see how to fix:

• It gives derivations in textbook style. Wikipedia is not a texbook.
• It does not define or explain many symbols, such as U, H, δ etc.
• I cannot tell what is the goal, nor what it adds to the simple definitions of $c_{\mathrm {V} }$ and $c_{\mathrm {P} }$.

--Jorge Stolfi (talk) 05:52, 11 May 2019 (UTC)

Polyatomic gases - degrees of freedom

It says "...and 37.5 at 3500 °C. The last value corresponds almost exactly to the predicted value for 7 degrees of freedom per molecule." 8.3*7/2=29, and 8.3*9/2=37.3, so should it be 9 degrees of freedom instead?  wolfRAMM  12:56, 27 June 2020 (UTC)

Duplication of section "5 Derivations of heat capacity" subsections

Subsections 5.2 to 5.5 are repeated in 5.10 to 5.13. The content is almost identical with subsections 5.10 to 5.13 containing some additional content. The duplication originated with the edits of "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Specific_heat_capacity&oldid=1030223919".

I am in no way competent to decide what should be kept or whether the repeated subsections were intended to be under a different parent section. SwalADuntI (talk) 16:07, 4 March 2022 (UTC)

Discuss heat capacity in solids

Would it make sense to expand the subsection on the heat capacity in solids? this seems to be rather meagre for all the complexity that is out there in this field. I.e. one could at least present the central results of Debye's model.

(I would do it but first I would like to find out whether there is any good reason forI should not do it) Leonardo di kitkat (talk) 12:13, 13 January 2026 (UTC)

Add table with values for most common materials

we currently have a short sentence with the energy capacity of water / iron / granite and hydrogen, as well as the mention of ice, but it would be really nice if the values for all the known materials where available on Wikipedia in the form of a table for instance Fmichaut74 (talk) 12:12, 20 June 2026 (UTC)