Question

The heat required to raise the temperature of a body by 1 K is called:
A. specific heat
B. thermal capacity
C. water equivalent
D. none of these

Answer 1

Hint: There are two different terms for the heat required to raise the temperature of a body by 1K and the heat required by the unit mass of a substance to raise the temperature by 1K. These terms differ in heat capacity and specific heat capacity. The heat is the energy that is supplied to raise the temperature.

Complete answer:
The heat required to raise the temperature of a body by 1 Kelvin is termed to be the capacity of that body for a thermal change, so it is called thermal capacity or the heat capacity. It is given by,
$C=\dfrac{\Delta Q}{\Delta T}$ , where Q is the heat in joules and T is the temperature in Kelvin. The unit of measurement is Joule per Kelvin or J/K. The delta sign denotes the change in heat upon change in temperature, this because heat capacity is an extensive property and depends on the final and the initial states of the body.
Hence, the heat required to raise the temperature of a body by 1 K is called the thermal capacity.

So option B is correct.

Note:
The specific heat or specific heat capacity is different from thermal capacity. This is because specific heat capacity deals with the unit mass, so it is measured by dividing the heat capacity by the mass of the body as $c=\dfrac{C}{M}$, it may be defined as the heat required to raise the temperature of unit mass of the body by 1 K. It is an intensive property.