Specific heat capacity

From Glossary of Meteorology



specific heat capacity

(Or specific heat.) The heat capacity of a system divided by its mass.

It is a property solely of the substance of which the system is composed. As with heat capacities, specific heats are commonly defined for processes occurring at either constant volume (cv) or constant pressure (cp). For an ideal gas, both are constant with temperature and related by cp = cv + R with R the gas constant. For dry air at 273 K,
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For moist air, the specific heat capacities of the dry air and water vapor must be combined in proportion to their respective mass fractions.

Dutton, J. A. 1995. Dynamics of Atmospheric Motion. Dover Press, . 41–45, 406–410.

Sommerfeld, A. 1964. Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics. Academic Press, . p. 45.


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