Diagram to represent heat capacity?

AI Thread Summary
A diagram illustrating why motor oil has a higher specific heat capacity than water can be created by graphing the specific heat of various materials. The discussion emphasizes the need for a simple diagram to accompany experiment write-ups, focusing on how heat capacity relates to a material's ability to store heat energy. Clarification is sought on the factors that determine heat capacity, with a reference to its definition as the heat required to change a substance's temperature. The conversation highlights a misunderstanding regarding the relationship between heat capacity and energy storage. Overall, the importance of visual representation in understanding heat capacity is underscored.
Crushgear64
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1. How do I draw a diagram to demonstrate why motor oil has a higher specific heat capacity than water?
 
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what you can do is just draw graphs of specific heat of different materials, and hence then through it represent that above ...
 
Zubeen said:
what you can do is just draw graphs of specific heat of different materials, and hence then through it represent that above ...

Our teacher decided that we need a diagram to go along with every experiment write up, as well as a graph.
 
Crushgear64 said:
Our teacher decided that we need a diagram to go along with every experiment write up, as well as a graph.

What kind of a diagram?
 
dimension10 said:
What kind of a diagram?

Just a simple diagram to demonstrate what is happening/why. I know the heat capacity is related to the ability of the material to store the heat energy as potential energy rather than kinetic energy, but I'm not sure how to illustrate it.
 
Crushgear64 said:
I know the heat capacity is related to the ability of the material to store the heat energy as potential energy rather than kinetic energy

No, that's false.
 
dimension10 said:
No, that's false.

Can you explain what actually determines it then?
 
Crushgear64 said:
Can you explain what actually determines it then?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_capacity

"Heat capacity (usually denoted by a capital C, often with subscripts), or thermal capacity, is the measurable physical quantity that characterizes the amount of heat required to change a substance's temperature by a given amount."
 
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