Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Activity 4.2 Question

How does the specific heat of an object affect sustainability?

8 comments:

Christopher Noda said...

Specific heat of an object is the total amount of energy written over grams times degrees Celsius that requires one gram of water to raise one degrees Celsius. Therefore if an object was to have a really high cp the object will take much more energy to heat up. If the object has a low cp then the object will heat up really quickly. This is the problem with sustainability. Coal and fossil fuels have very low cs. SO they are a quick way to get fuel. But the problem is they produce the c02 that is causing global warming to the nation. Since its so easy to burn we use a lot of it, and since we use a lot of it we are causing global warming. This is why Cp affects sustainability.

Jackie Schechter said...

The specific heat of an object does effect sustainability. Specific heat is the amount of energy it takes to raise 1 gram of a substance one degrees Celsius. The things that we need to heat like water, air, and metal all have specific heats. if these substances had lower specific heats then it would not take as much energy to heat them. The less energy it takes to heat an object the less energy we have to use to heat it, which means we should save energy if water, air, metal, or other various objects had a lower specific heat.

Suzie said...

Specific heat is the amount of energy used to raise 1 gram of matter 1 degree Celsius. The Cp of an object affects sustainability. All life has adapted/gotten used to the Cp of objects around us that will never change (air, water). We have lived with the Cp of these objects and some of them have helped to sustain us, whether high specific heat(objects with high Cp have been used as building materials or other objects to keep us warm; More heat is required to raise an object with a high Cp than an object with a low Cp. From my observations, objects with high Cp are usually dense in matter. These objects also do not allow much thermal conduction.), or low specific heat (We use matter with a low Cp everyday; air and water are necessary for life and have a low Cp, and materials with a low Cp help cool our bodies down. This is because objects with low Cp take less heat to warm up, and in my observation, they have been thin, or less dense. They also are good thermal conductors.) If the Cp of these objects changed, we would have to readjust our living standards, and we might not be able to live.

Meagan M. said...

If an object has a high specific heat, then it requires more energy to heat up. One example is water. Water has a very high specific heat, 4.2 Joules/g x degrees Celsius. This means we have to use more fuel to heat water, and in the United States we heat vast amounts of water every day. Since the U.S. burns fossil fuels to get this energy, its not very sustainable. The burning of fossil fuels gives off a lot of carbon dioxide. Right now there are 380 parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere. If that number rises past 450, then our descendants will have to deal with melting ice sheets and rising oceans. Also, an excess of CO2 could affect the Earth's climate. So if an object has a higher specific heat, then it could mean burning more fossil fuels which is not sustainable for the future.

Christine Jackson said...

Yes, the Cp of an object or material can affect sustainability. This is because objects and materials with a high Cp need more energy to raise their matter 1 degree celcius. This means that objects that have a high Cp (Like water) are unsustainable because they need more energy to heat up. Materials that we use every day and that have a high Cp are especially unsustainable because they use more energy to heat up.

anellore said...

The Cp of an object definitely affects sustainability. If an object has a high Cp, it will heat up a lot slower. If an object has a low Cp, it will heat up much faster. This is the problem, and this is how it relates and affects sustainability. Coal and fossil fuels, the materials that we burn and also the non-renewable materials that cause tremendous amounts of CO2 to be let into the air, have low Cps. This means, they are very easy to heat up and get fuel from. The only problem is that, as I said before, those two things let out tremendous amounts of CO2 into the air. Because we use so much of these two resources, it is causing global warming, and that is what is destroying our planet. That's how Cp affects sustainability.

Lucy Lloyd said...

Specific heat of an object can greatly effect sustainability. For example, water is used all over the United States as a way to heat homes. Hot water is flown through the pipes in a house and gives off thermal energy to the house. Water has a pretty high specific heat which means that it takes more energy to heat it up than other substances. If it took less energy to heat up water, it would be more sustainable. Since it takes a pretty decent amount of energy to heat up water, this is more energy being used to heat up something to heat up a house. If water has a lower specific heat, we could heat up water (homes, dinner, etc) more quickly and save valuable non-renewable resources.

copalmer said...

Yes, because specific heat is the amount of energy it takes a piece of matter to raise (or lower) 1 degree Celsius. Therefore, the lower specific heat something has, the easier it is to heat or cool down. And in turn this means that you are using less energy to heat or cool something down. The less energy you use, the more sustainable you will become.