Heat capacity

From Glossary of Meteorology



heat capacity

(Also called thermal capacity.) The ratio of the energy or enthalpy absorbed (or released) by a system to the corresponding temperature rise (or fall).

Heat capacities are defined for particular processes. For a constant volume process,
ams2001glos-He3
where U is the internal energy of a system and T is its temperature. For a constant pressure process,
ams2001glos-He4
where H is the system enthalpy. The heating rate, Q, for a constant volume process is
ams2001glos-He5
whereas in a constant pressure process,
ams2001glos-He6

See specific heat capacity.


Copyright 2024 American Meteorological Society (AMS). For permission to reuse any portion of this work, please contact permissions@ametsoc.org. Any use of material in this work that is determined to be “fair use” under Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act (17 U.S. Code § 107) or that satisfies the conditions specified in Section 108 of the U.S.Copyright Act (17 USC § 108) does not require AMS’s permission. Republication, systematic reproduction, posting in electronic form, such as on a website or in a searchable database, or other uses of this material, except as exempted by the above statement, require written permission or a license from AMS. Additional details are provided in the AMS Copyright Policy statement.