1) Heat

capacity or thermal capacity :

is a measurable physical quantity equal to the ratio of the heat added to (or removed from) an
object to the resulting temperature change.[1] The SI unit of heat capacity is joule per kelvin
the dimensional form isL2MT21. Specific heat is the amount of heat needed to raise the
temperature of a certain mass by 1 degree Celsius.

and

Heat capacity is an extensive property of matter, meaning it is proportional to the size of the
system. When expressing the same phenomenon as an intensive property, the heat capacity is
divided by the amount of substance, mass, or volume, so that the quantity is independent of the size
or extent of the sample. The molar heat capacity is the heat capacity per unit amount (SI unit:mole)
of a pure substance and the specific heat capacity, often simply called specific heat, is the heat
capacity per unit mass of a material. Occasionally, in engineering contexts, the volumetric heat
capacity is used.

Temperature reflects the average randomized kinetic energy of constituent particles of matter (e.g.
atoms or molecules) relative to the centre of mass of the system, while heat is the transfer of energy
across a system boundary into the body other than by work or matter transfer. Translation, rotation,
and vibration of atoms represent the degrees of freedom of motion which classically contribute to
the heat capacity of gases, while only vibrations are needed to describe the heat capacities of most
solids[2] , as shown by theDulongPetit law. Other, more exotic contributions can come from
magnetic[3] and electronic[4] degrees of freedom in solids, but these rarely make substantial
contributions.

For quantum mechanical reasons, at any given temperature, some of these degrees of freedom may
be unavailable, or only partially available, to store thermal energy. In such cases, the specific heat
capacity is a fraction of the maximum. As the temperature approaches absolute zero, the specific
heat capacity of a system approaches zero, due to loss of available degrees of freedom.Quantum
theory can be used to quantitatively predict the specific heat capacity of simple systems.

2) What

is specific heat at constant volume, cv?

To answer this question, we should start with a more basic question:

What is internal energy, and how do you measure it? Internal energy is the molecular
activity of a substance the vibrational, translational, and rotational kinetic energy of
the molecules of the substance. You can imagine that this would be difficult to
measure, but fortunately this energy results in something that we can easily measure:
a change in the temperature of the substance. This leads us to the next step:
measuring the internal energy change of a substance. (Note that we are more
interested in the change in internal energy, not the absolute value. We will find that
the change in internal energy is all we really need.) To measure this change, we turn
to the 1st Law of Thermodynamics for a closed system: q w =

de = du + (KE) + (PE)

Ive written the differential form above, and divided through by the mass of the
system since it is closed, and therefore the mass doesnt change. Now, we are
interested in measuring du , the change in specific internal energy, so lets set up a
system that eliminates boundary work, as well as changes in kinetic and potential
energy. Well choose a rigid container that does not move during the process .

q = du

In the system weve chosen above, the change in energy is equal to the heat we add. What do you
think will happen to the system when heat is added? Youd expect the temperature to rise. In fact, it
turns out that for small amounts of heat added, the temperature change is proportional to the
amount of heat added:

q(= du) dT

To make this an equality, we can add a proportionality constant to the relationship above:
q(= du) = cvdT
so
cv = (du / dT)

We call the proportionality constant cv, the specific heat at constant volume, and has
dimensions of Energy/(massT). You may have heard of the term heat capacity; this is just the
specific heat times the mass.

What does cv mean, physically?

The specific heat of a substance physically represents how much the energy of a
substance takes in or gives off when its temperature changes. For example, if you heat ten
kilograms of water from 25 C to 100 C, it takes more energy than to raise the temperature of an
equal mass of air. This implies that the specific heat of water is larger than that of air. We call
(lower-case) c the specific heat because it is the heat capacity of a substance divided by its mass,
and all specific properties are properties per unit mass, or mass-specific properties. Why call it
constant-volume? Because the specific heat is defined when the system was held at constant
volume.

The heat capacity at constant volume of nR = 1 JK1 of any gas.

This represents the dimensionless heat capacity at constant volume; it is generally a function of
temperature due to intermolecular forces. For moderate temperatures, the constant for a
monoatomic gas is cv=3/2 while for a diatomic gas it is cv=5/2 (see ). Macroscopic measurements
on heat capacity provide information on the microscopic structure of the molecules.

Molecular internal vibrations

When a gas is heated, translational kientic energy of molecules in the gas will increase.
In addition, molecules in the gas may pick up many characteristic internal vibrations.
Potential energy stored in these internal degrees of freedom contributes to specific heat
of the gas.

References :
1) wikipedia .

2) calpoly .

3) Boundless Physics.