Global InformationTable of specific heat capacities information
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The table of specific heat capacities gives the volumetric heat capacity as well as the specific heat capacity of some substances and engineering materials, and (when applicable) the molar heat capacity.
Generally, the most notable constant parameter is the volumetric heat capacity (at least for solids) which is around the value of 3 megajoule per cubic meter per kelvin:[1]
Note that the especially high molar values, as for paraffin, gasoline, water and ammonia, result from calculating specific heats in terms of moles of molecules. If specific heat is expressed per mole of atoms for these substances, none of the constant-volume values exceed, to any large extent, the theoretical Dulong–Petit limit of 25 J⋅mol−1⋅K−1 = 3 R per mole of atoms (see the last column of this table). For example, Paraffin has very large molecules and thus a high heat capacity per mole, but as a substance it does not have remarkable heat capacity in terms of volume, mass, or atom-mol (which is just 1.41 R per mole of atoms, or less than half of most solids, in terms of heat capacity per atom). Dulong–Petit limit also explains why dense substance which have very heavy atoms, such like lead, rank very low in mass heat capacity.
In the last column, major departures of solids at standard temperatures from the Dulong–Petit law value of 3 R, are usually due to low atomic weight plus high bond strength (as in diamond) causing some vibration modes to have too much energy to be available to store thermal energy at the measured temperature. For gases, departure from 3 R per mole of atoms is generally due to two factors: (1) failure of the higher quantum-energy-spaced vibration modes in gas molecules to be excited at room temperature, and (2) loss of potential energy degree of freedom for small gas molecules, simply because most of their atoms are not bonded maximally in space to other atoms, as happens in many solids.
| Substance | Phase | Isobaric mass heat capacity cP J⋅g−1⋅K−1 |
Molar heat capacity, CP,m and CV,m J⋅mol−1⋅K−1 |
Isobaric volumetric heat capacity CP,v J⋅cm−3⋅K−1 |
Isochoric molar by atom heat capacity CV,am mol-atom−1 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Isobaric | Isochoric | |||||
| Air (Sea level, dry, 0 °C (273.15 K)) |
gas | 1.0035 | 29.07 | 20.7643 | 0.001297 | |
| Air (typical room conditionsA) |
gas | 1.012 | 29.19 | 20.85 | 0.00121 | |
| Aluminium | solid | 0.897 | 24.2 | 2.422 | 2.91 R | |
| Ammonia | liquid | 4.700 | 80.08 | 3.263 | 3.21 R | |
| Animal tissue (incl. human)[2] |
mixed | 3.5 | 3.7* | |||
| Antimony | solid | 0.207 | 25.2 | 1.386 | 3.03 R | |
| Argon | gas | 0.5203 | 20.7862 | 12.4717 | ||
| Arsenic | solid | 0.328 | 24.6 | 1.878 | 2.96 R | |
| Beryllium | solid | 1.82 | 16.4 | 3.367 | 1.97 R | |
| Bismuth[3] | solid | 0.123 | 25.7 | 1.20 | 3.09 R | |
| Cadmium | solid | 0.231 | 26.02 | 2.00 | 3.13 R | |
| Carbon dioxide CO2[4] | gas | 0.839B | 36.94 | 28.46 | ||
| Chromium | solid | 0.449 | 23.35 | 3.21 | 2.81 R | |
| Copper | solid | 0.385 | 24.47 | 3.45 | 2.94 R | |
| Diamond | solid | 0.5091 | 6.115 | 1.782 | 0.74 R | |
| Ethanol | liquid | 2.44 | 112 | 1.925 | ||
| Gasoline (octane) | liquid | 2.22 | 228 | 1.640 | ||
| Glass[3] | solid | 0.84 | 2.1 | |||
| Gold | solid | 0.129 | 25.42 | 2.492 | 3.05 R | |
| Granite[3] | solid | 0.790 | 2.17 | |||
| Graphite | solid | 0.710 | 8.53 | 1.534 | 1.03 R | |
| Helium | gas | 5.1932 | 20.7862 | 12.4717 | ||
| Hydrogen | gas | 14.30 | 28.82 | |||
| Hydrogen sulfide H2S[4] | gas | 1.015B | 34.60 | |||
| Iron[5] | solid | 0.449 | 25.09[6] | 3.537 | 3.02 R | |
| Lead | solid | 0.129 | 26.4 | 1.440 | 3.18 R | |
| Lithium | solid | 3.58 | 24.8 | 1.912 | 2.98 R | |
| Lithium at 181 °C[7] | solid(?) | 4.233 | ||||
| Lithium at 181 °C[7] | liquid | 4.379 | 30.33 | 2.242 | 3.65 R | |
| Magnesium | solid | 1.02 | 24.9 | 1.773 | 2.99 R | |
| Mercury | liquid | 0.1395 | 27.98 | 1.888 | 3.36 R | |
| Methane at 2 °C | gas | 2.191 | 35.69 | |||
| Methanol[8] | liquid | 2.14 | 68.62 | 1.695 | ||
| Molten salt (142–540 °C)[9] | liquid | 1.56 | 2.62 | |||
| Nitrogen | gas | 1.040 | 29.12 | 20.8 | ||
| Neon | gas | 1.0301 | 20.7862 | 12.4717 | ||
| Oxygen | gas | 0.918 | 29.38 | 21.0 | ||
| Paraffin wax C25H52 |
solid | 2.5 (avg) | 900 | 2.325 | ||
| Polyethylene (rotomolding grade)[10][11] |
solid | 2.3027 | 2.15 | |||
| Silica (fused) | solid | 0.703 | 42.2 | 1.547 | ||
| Silver[3] | solid | 0.233 | 24.9 | 2.44 | 2.99 R | |
| Sodium | solid | 1.230 | 28.23 | 1.19 | 3.39 R | |
| Steel | solid | 0.466 | 3.756 | |||
| Tin | solid | 0.227 | 27.112 | 1.659 | 3.26 R | |
| Titanium | solid | 0.523 | 26.060 | 2.6384 | 3.13 R | |
| Tungsten[3] | solid | 0.134 | 24.8 | 2.58 | 2.98 R | |
| Uranium | solid | 0.116 | 27.7 | 2.216 | 3.33 R | |
| Water at 100 °C (steam) | gas | 2.03 | 36.5 | 27.5 | 1.53 | |
| Water at 25 °C | liquid | 4.1816 | 75.34 | 74.55 | 4.138 | |
| Water at 100 °C | liquid | 4.216 [dubious ] | 75.95 | 67.9 | 3.77 | |
| Water at −10 °C (ice)[3] | solid | 2.05 | 38.09 | 1.938 | ||
| Zinc[3] | solid | 0.387 | 25.2 | 2.76 | 3.03 R | |
| Substance | Phase | Isobaric mass heat capacity cP J⋅g−1⋅K−1 |
Isobaric molar heat capacity CP,m J⋅mol−1⋅K−1 |
Isochore molar heat capacity CV,m J⋅mol−1⋅K−1 |
Isobaric volumetric heat capacity CP,v J⋅cm−3⋅K−1 |
Isochore atom-molar heat capacity in units of R CV,am atom-mol−1 |
A Assuming an altitude of 194 metres above mean sea level (the worldwide median altitude of human habitation), an indoor temperature of 23 °C, a dewpoint of 9 °C (40.85% relative humidity), and 760 mmHg sea level–corrected barometric pressure (molar water vapor content = 1.16%).
B Calculated values
*Derived data by calculation. This is for water-rich tissues such as brain. The whole-body average figure for mammals is approximately 2.9 J⋅cm−3⋅K−1
[12]
- ^ Ashby, Shercliff, Cebon, Materials, Cambridge University Press, Chapter 12: Atoms in vibration: material and heat
- ^ Page 183 in: Cornelius, Flemming (2008). Medical biophysics (6th ed.). ISBN 978-1-4020-7110-2. (also giving a density of 1.06 kg/L)
- ^ a b c d e f g "Table of Specific Heats".
- ^ a b Young; Geller (2008). Young and Geller College Physics (8th ed.). Pearson Education. ISBN 978-0-8053-9218-0.
- ^ https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/specific-heat-capacity-d_391.html
- ^ Chase, M. W. (1998). "Iron". National Institute of Standards and Technology: 1–1951.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ a b "Materials Properties Handbook, Material: Lithium" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 5, 2006.
- ^ "HCV (Molar Heat Capacity (cV)) Data for Methanol". Dortmund Data Bank Software and Separation Technology.
- ^ "Heat Storage in Materials". The Engineering Toolbox.
- ^ Crawford, R. J. Rotational molding of plastics. ISBN 978-1-59124-192-8.
- ^ Gaur, Umesh; Wunderlich, Bernhard (1981). "Heat capacity and other thermodynamic properties of linear macromolecules. II. Polyethylene" (PDF). Journal of Physical and Chemical Reference Data. 10 (1): 119. Bibcode:1981JPCRD..10..119G. doi:10.1063/1.555636.
- ^ Faber, P.; Garby, L. (1995). "Fat content affects heat capacity: a study in mice". Acta Physiologica Scandinavica. 153 (2): 185–7. doi:10.1111/j.1748-1716.1995.tb09850.x. PMID 7778459.