What does specific heat capacity measure?

Specific heat capacity measures the heat required to raise the temperature of one gram of a substance by one degree Celsius. This property is crucial in understanding how materials respond to heat. The specific heat capacity provides insight into how much energy is needed to change the temperature of a material, which is particularly important in fields such as chemistry, physics, and engineering.

For example, water has a high specific heat capacity, meaning it can absorb a lot of heat without a significant increase in temperature. This property is essential in stabilizing temperatures in natural and artificial systems. Understanding specific heat capacity allows scientists and engineers to predict how substances behave when energy is added or removed, which has many practical applications, such as in heating systems, cooling processes, and climate science.

In contrast to this correct concept, other options relate to different aspects of thermal energy rather than specific heat capacity itself. The heat released during a phase change pertains to latent heat, which is the energy required for a substance to transition between solid, liquid, and gas states without changing temperature. The total thermal energy of a system is a broader concept that encompasses all kinetic and potential energy of particles but does not specifically relate to the temperature change of a mass per unit energy. Lastly, the rate of temperature change over time