U values measure how effective materials are as insulators, with lower U-values indicating better insulation. The specific heat capacity of a substance is the amount of energy needed to change its temperature by 1 degree Celsius per kilogram, and can be calculated using measurements of a substance's initial and final temperatures, mass, time, current, voltage and power from a practical experiment where it is heated.

1. Heating and Insulating Buildings

2. U values measure how effective a
material is as an insulator
It is defined as the rate of heat
flow in watts (W) through
an area of 1 square metre (m) for
a temperature difference across
the structure
of 1 C degree centigrade
You don’t
need this
definition!

3. The lower the U-value, the better the
material is as an insulator

4. Specific Heat Capacity

5. The specific heat capacity of a substance is the amount of
energy required to change the temperature of one
kilogram of the substance by one degree Celsius

6. Practical set up

7. Experiment to find out the SHC of a
substance
• The metal I’m testing is ___________.
• Mass of metal _____________
• Initial temperature =
• Final temperature after 8 minutes =
• Change in temperature =
• Time in seconds =
• Current =
• Voltage =
• Power = current voltage
• Energy transferred to the metal in 8 minutes =
power time (seconds)
Challenge: What is the SHC of the metal?

8. Equation to calculate specific heat
capacity

9. The SHC of Water is 4200 J/Kg/oC