Question

Give two illustrations of high specific heat capacity of water.

Answer 1

Hint: As we all know that some substances require large amounts of heat to increase their temperature to a few degree Celsius. Why is it so? This is because it takes a large amount of time for their molecules to raise their self-temperature and increase the energy of molecules.

Complete step by step answer:
The two points are as follows:

When water is used to cool the engine as used in radiators, the amount of energy that is required to raise the temperature of water even to 1 degree Celsius is very high. Water can be used for a long amount of time as a coolant since it does not heat up too fast.

Bottles of wine in very low temperature regions are put up inside the water since it does not heat up as water takes a long amount of time to fall its temperature.

Additional information: We have studied that in solids, the molecules are compact due to which there is less degree of freedom. In the case of a liquid, the molecules are closely packed not as closely as in solid, hence higher degree of freedom and the intermolecular forces are weaker than that of a solid. In the case of gases, the molecules are sufficiently far apart that there are little to no attractive forces. Because of this a gas can easily be compressed and take the shape of the container.


Note: As we all know that the latent heat is a hidden type of heat. While changing the phase the temperature is constant and hence the special heat in that particular case tends to infinity. The molecules in this case just gain enough energy to change their phase.