Question

What is the specific heat capacity of Styrofoam?

Answer 1

The specific heat of a material is the heat required to increase its temperature by unit degrees per unit mass. It is a constant quantity and is different for different materials. There are different units used for representing the specific heat but its SI unit is derived using joules, degree Celsius and kg.

Complete step by step answer:
The specific heat capacity of a material is the heat required to raise its temperature by unit degree per unit mass. It is a constant quantity and is different for different materials. Its SI unit is joules per Kelvin ($J\,k{{g}^{-1}}{{K}^{-1}}$). Therefore,
$c=\dfrac{Q}{m\Delta T}$
Here, $c$ is the specific heat of a material
$m$ is the mass of the material
$\Delta T$ is the change in temperature
Similarly, molar heat capacity is the heat required to change the temperature of a material by unit degree per mole.
Styrofoam is a material that is made of expanded polystyrene foam (EPS). It is generally used to make food containers, coffee cups etc. The specific heat capacity of Styrofoam is calculated experimentally as $0.27cal\,g{{m}^{-1}}\,{}^{o}{{C}^{-1}}$ or $1131\,J\,k{{g}^{-1}}{{K}^{-1}}$.

Therefore, the specific heat of Styrofoam is calculated to be $1131\,J\,k{{g}^{-1}}{{K}^{-1}}$.

Note: Polystyrene is a polymer made from a monomer called styrene. It is a type of plastic. The specific heat capacity is also different for different states of matter of a material. When a material changes its state, the amount of heat provided to it to change its state is called latent heat. There are different types of latent heat like latent heat of fusion, vaporization etc.