Question

What is the specific heat capacity of water?
A. The amount of heat needed to raise its temperature a certain amount.
B. The amount of heat needed to raise its frequency a certain amount.
C. The amount of heat needed to raise its amplitude a certain amount.
D. None

Answer 1

Hint: There are two kinds of properties of matter: Extensive and Intensive. Extensive properties are those properties that change with the quantity of matter when increased or decreased. Intensive properties are those that do not change when there is addition or removal of matter in the system. For this question first we will know what is the specific heat capacity of water and then check which among the options satisfy.

Complete step-by-step answer:
Before we get to the unit of specific heat, it is important that we understand the basic definition of heat capacity.
The heat capacity of a material is defined as the rate of change of heat energy in the system when there is a change in the temperature.
$C = \dfrac{{\Delta Q}}{{\Delta t}}$
Traditionally, the unit used to measure the heat capacity in chemical reactions and nutritional fields is Calories.
1 calorie is defined as the heat capacity of 1 gram of water. Basically, it means that the energy required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by ${1^ \circ }C$
In SI system, $1cal = 4.184 \approx 4.2J$(joules)
Heat capacity is an extensive property and its corresponding intensive property is called specific heat capacity.
The total heat energy, $Q = ms\Delta t$
where s = specific heat capacity in $J{K^{ - 1}}k{g^{ - 1}}$.
So, the specific heat can be defined as the amount of heat needed to raise its temperature a certain amount.

Therefore, the correct option is Option A.

Note: Here, the generic specific heat capacity is mentioned as C. However, there are two types of specific heat when the system is at constant volume and constant pressure.
${C_v}\& {C_p}$ are the specific heats at constant volume and pressure, respectively.
The difference between ${C_p}\& {C_v}$ is equal to the universal gas constant R.
${C_p} - {C_v} = R$