Heat capacity

Heat capacity, also called specific heat capacity is the amount of heat it takes to make a certain mass of a substance increase by a certain amount of temperature. The unit of calorie is defined by the heat capacity of water: 1 calorie is defined as the amount of heat it takes to heat 1 gram of water 1 degree Celsius. It is approximately $4.2\times 10^{-3}\,{\mbox{J}}\ {\mbox{kg}}^{-1}\ {\mbox{K}}^{-1}$

A table of heat capacities of select substances is as follows:

Substance	Heat Capacity $\left({\frac {cal}{g^{o}C}}\right)$
Copper	0.092
Glass	0.200
Iron	0.108
Styrofoam	11.95
Water	1.00

The heat required, $Q$ to heat up an object of mass $m$ and heat capacity $c$ by a temperature $\Delta T$ is $Q=mc\,\Delta T$