Here's a reasonable definition of specific heat. Specific heat as relates to a substance is the amount of heat per unit mass of that substance to raise or lower the temperature of that substance by 1 degree Celsius. Below are some common units for specific heat. Some amount of calories per gram per degree Celsius, some amount of kilocalories per gram degree Celsius, or joules per gram degree Celsius or kilogoules per gram degree Celsius. Here's a table that includes specific heats in calories per gram degree Celsius for some substances. Let's take a closer look at the units of the specific heat and try to get a more physical understanding of the units and the associated number. Consider this interpretation of specific heat. To change the temperature of 1 gram of that substance by 1 degree, a certain amount of calories or joules, which is the heat, needs to be added to raise the temperature or removed to lower the temperature of that substance. Water has the highest specific heat in this list. That means it requires the most heat to be added or removed in order for the temperature to be 1 degree. Whereas lead does not require a lot of heat to be added or removed to change the temperature by 1 degree. In this virtual experiment, a particular material is going to be heated and the initial and final temperature are going to be measured. Different materials will be heated with the same amount of heat and will observe different final temperatures for each of these materials. First, let's try water. The initial temperature of water in this case is 20 degrees C. Let me reset the experiment to show that at this point the final temperature of water is the same because we haven't done anything to it. We're going to heat the water for 3 seconds and then record the final temperature. 150 joules of heat were added and the final temperature of water is 27.2 degrees. The temperature of this water increased by 7.2 degrees C. Water added this list of substances has the highest specific heat. Let's select the substance that has a lower specific heat than water. Let's say glass. This specific heat for ordinary glass is 0.22 calories per gram degree C. And a specific heat of water is 1 calorie per gram degree C. We're going to reset the experiment. The initial temperature of this glass is 20 degrees C. We're going to heat for 3 seconds and add the same amount of heat to 150 joules. This is the same amount of heat that was added to water. And also notice that we're using the exact same mass of sample for each experiment. Notice the higher final temperature for glass. 55.7 degrees. That's a 35.7 degree temperature change. Quite different than water. Think about why there was such a large temperature change for glass. It has everything to do with the specific heat and the fact that the specific heat of glass is much lower than that of water. To change the temperature glass by 1 degree, it requires only 0.22 calories of heat. As opposed to water, where it requires much more heat to change the temperature by 1 degree. So for 150 joules of heat, you'll get a much larger temperature change for the glass. Let's try one more substance. Let's select wood. This specific heat for ordinary wood is 0.42 calories per gram degree C. Before I heat the sample of wood, predictive to the final temperature of the wood will be below the final temperature of water, above the final temperature of water, below the final temperature of glass, or above the final temperature of glass. The final temperature of the water is in between the final temperature of the glass and that of the glass. That's because the specific heat of wood is in between that of the water and that of glass.