2.14: Water - High Heat Capacity (2024)

FAQs

2.14: Water - High Heat Capacity? ›

Water's high heat capacity is a property caused by hydrogen bonding among water molecules. When heat is absorbed, hydrogen bonds are broken and water molecules can move freely. When the temperature of water decreases, the hydrogen bonds are formed and release a considerable amount of energy.

Water has a high specific heat, meaning it takes more energy to increase the temperature of water compared to other substances. This is why water is valuable to industries and in your car's radiator as a coolant.

Water has high heat capacity.

For example, this property allows the temperature of water in a pond to stay relatively constant from day to night, regardless of the changing atmospheric temperature.

Water has a specific heat capacity of 4.186 J/g°C, meaning that it requires 4.186 J of energy (1 calorie) to heat a gram by one degree. is the change in temperature of the system.

This is due to the strong hydrogen bonds between water molecules that require a significant amount of energy to break. As a result, the water temperature changes relatively slowly compared to other substances when heated or cooled.

Answer and Explanation:

This shows that water needs a great amount of energy to change its temperature. Therefore, the statement is "false", meaning that large changes in water temperature need even higher (not just significant) amounts of heat energy.

The specific heat capacity of water is 4.18 J/g/°C. We wish to determine the value of Q - the quantity of heat. To do so, we would use the equation Q = m•C•ΔT.

Heat capacity is a property that describes how much energy is needed to change the temperature of a material. Objects with a high specific heat capacity require a greater change in energy to change their temperature and vice versa for objects with a low specific heat capacity.

Substances that have high specific heat capacities, such as water and ammonia, allow them to absorb more heat before increasing in temperature. Water's high specific heat capacity results from its hydrogen bonds and helps regulate climate across the globe, as well as maintain temperature stability within the oceans.

If water had a low specific heat compared to a high specific heat, life would not have evolved as it has. The hydrogen bonding network in water is what allows water to have such a high specific heat. Therefore with a low specific heat, that would also imply that water does not have the hydrogen bonding network.

What is the highest heat capacity? ›

Liquid water has one of the highest specific heat capacities among common substances, about 4184 J⋅kg⁻¹⋅K⁻¹ at 20 °C; but that of ice, just below 0 °C, is only 2093 J⋅kg⁻¹⋅K⁻¹. The specific heat capacities of iron, granite, and hydrogen gas are about 449 J⋅kg⁻¹⋅K⁻¹, 790 J⋅kg⁻¹⋅K⁻¹, and 14300 J⋅kg⁻¹⋅K⁻¹, respectively.

Water has a much higher heat capacity, and specific heat, than air, meaning it takes more energy to heat water than it does to heat air.

A large specific heat capacity of water means that for a certain amount of heat (in Joules) provided to a mass of water, the change in temperature is much less compared to other substances of same mass with lesser specific heat capacity.

The specific heat of water is 1 calorie/gram ∘C = 4.186 joule/gram ∘C which is higher than any other common substance.

It helps us understand how different materials respond to heat and why some materials heat up or cool down faster than others. For instance, metals typically have low specific heat capacities, meaning they heat up and cool down quickly, which is why they're often used in cooking utensils.

Expert-Verified Answer. The sentence which explains why water has a high specific heat is: B. hydrogen bonds increase the amount of energy that is required for the temperature to change.

Water's high heat capacity means that it can absorb and store a large amount of heat energy without experiencing significant temperature changes. In the context of ocean circulation, this property of water is particularly important in regulating heat transfer between the ocean and the atmosphere.

The reason why water has a high specific heat is because there is a large number of hydrogen bonds. Hydrogen bonds are considerably harder to break compared to molecule with no hydrogen bonding because of the interactions require higher heat to be broken.

Because water has a much higher heat capacity, or specific heat, than do sands, soils or other materials, for a given amount of solar irradiation (insolation), water temperature will increase less than land temperature.

It allows water to absorb a lot of heat before it begins to get hot, thus helping regulate the Earth's temperature and preventing drastic temperature changes. In living organisms, this property helps maintain cellular temperature and supports biological processes that are sensitive to temperature changes.

What is unusual about water's heat capacity? ›

Because of its high heat capacity, water can minimize changes in temperature. For instance, the specific heat capacity of water is about five times greater than that of sand. The land cools faster than the sea once the sun goes down, and the slow-cooling water can release heat to nearby land during the night.

The high specific heat of water means that it requires a large amount of heat to raise the temperature of water. This helps the temperature of the environment from becoming too hot or too cold. Also, humans are about 66% water, thus this property of water helps us regulate our body temperature too.

Among liquids, water has highest heat capacity (4.18 kJ/Kg. K) but hydrogen has highest (14.3 kJ/Kg. K) heat capacity of all. You can look this up in many engineering tables.

Hence only Hydrogen has highest specific heat capacity.

Water has a much higher heat capacity, and specific heat, than air, meaning it takes more energy to heat water than it does to heat air. Water has a specific heat of 4.186 J/g degreesC, versus air, which has a specific heat of 1.005 J/g degreesC.