2.2.

2 Specific Heat Capacity

Internal Energy

• A rise in the temperature of an object increases its internal energy

o This can be thought of as due to an increase in the average speed of the particles
o Increasing speed increases kinetic energy

• Internal energy is defined as:

The total energy stored inside a system by the particles that make up the system due to their motion
and positions

• Motion of the particles affects their kinetic energy

• Positions of the particles relative to each other affects their potential energy
o Together, these two make up the internal energy of the system
As the container heats up, the gas molecules move faster

Faster motion causes higher kinetic energy and therefore higher internal energy

Specific Heat Capacity

• How much the temperature of a system increases depends on:

o The mass of the substance heated
o The type of material
o The amount of thermal energy transferred in to the system

• The specific heat capacity, c, of a substance is defined as:

Substances have internal energy due to the motion of the particles and their positions The amount of energy required to raise the temperature of 1 kg of the substance by 1 °C
relative to each other
• Different substances have different specific heat capacities
Average Kinetic Energy o If a substance has a low specific heat capacity, it heats up and cools down quickly (ie. it
takes less energy to change its temperature)
• Heating a system changes a substance's internal energy by increasing the kinetic energy of its o If a substance has a high specific heat capacity, it heats up and cools down slowly (ie. it
particles takes more energy to change its temperature)
o The temperature of the material, therefore, is related to the average kinetic energy of
the molecules

• This increase in kinetic energy (and therefore internal energy) can:

o Cause the temperature of the system to increase
o Or, produce a change of state (solid to liquid or liquid to gas)
2.2.4 Melting & Boiling Boiling

Fixed Points of Water • When liquid water is heated by adding thermal energy (say from the gas flame or kettle
element), the temperature of the water rises until the water boils
• The melting and boiling points of pure water are known as fixed points o At the boiling point, even if more thermal energy is added, the liquid water does not get
o Ice melts at 0 °C any hotter
o Pure water boils at 100 °C o This means that the internal energy is not rising

• These are the accepted values for pure water at atmospheric pressure • The additional thermal energy goes into overcoming the intermolecular forces between the
molecules of water
o As the forces are overcome, the liquid water becomes water vapour (steam)
o This is evaporation or vaporisation; the water is now a gas

• The process is repeated backwards for cooling as energy is transferred away

o A gas turns back into liquid through condensation

Melting

• When solid water (ice) is heated by adding thermal energy (from the surroundings, or a flame),
the ice melts
o At the melting point, even if more thermal energy is added, the solid water does not get
Ice melts at 0 °C and water boils at 100 °C warmer
o This means that the internal energy is not rising
Melting & Boiling
• The additional thermal energy goes into overcoming the intermolecular forces between the
• While a substance is changing state, either molecules of the solid ice
o Melting or freezing o As the forces are overcome, the solid water becomes liquid
o Boiling or condensing o This is melting; the ice is now a liquid

• The substance does not change temperature, even though energy is being transferred to or • The process is repeated backwards for cooling as heat is transferred away
away from the thermal energy store of the substance o A liquid turns back into a solid through freezing

Condensation & Solidification

• Heating and cooling graphs are used to summarise:

o How the temperature of a substance changes when energy is transferred to or away
from it
o Where changes of state occur
• Heating and cooling graphs tend to be the same
o Heating is when energy is transferred to the system and the kinetic energy of the
molecules increases (red arrows to the right)
o Cooling is when energy is transferred away from the system (or dissipated to the
surroundings) and the kinetic energy of the molecules decreases (blue arrows to the left)

Condensation

• The particle diagrams next to the graph show that as a gas condenses into a liquid
Boiling vs Evaporation

• Boiling is also a change in state from liquid to gas

o Boiling happens only at the boiling point of the liquid
o The change of state happens all through the liquid (seen as bubbles in boiling water, for
example)