The heat capacity, or the specific heat of a material, is the proportionality constant between the increase in temperature and the increase in heat absorbed by the material per unit mass, per unit temperature.
H = m C (T2 - T1)
where:
 H = Heat absorbed by object
m = mass of object
C = heat capacity of material in the object
T1 = starting temperature
T2 = final temperature
The unit used for C should match those used for H, m and T.
For example: If a material has a heat capacity of 5 J g−1 K−1 then increasing the temperature of 1 gram of that material by 1 °C will cause it to absorb 5 J.
Common Heat Capacity Values Data taken from Wikipdia all Wikipedia licensing conditions apply
| Substance | Phase | cp J g−1 K−1 | Cp J mol−1 K−1 |
| Air (Sea level, dry, 0 °C) | gas | 1 | 29.07 |
| Air (typical room conditionsA) | gas | 1.01 | 29.19 |
| Aluminium | solid | 0.9 | 24.2 |
| Ammonia | liquid | 4.7 | 80.08 |
| Argon | gas | 0.52 | 20.79 |
| Beryllium | solid | 1.82 | 16.4 |
| Copper | solid | 0.39 | 24.47 |
| Diamond | solid | 0.51 | 6.115 |
| Ethanol | liquid | 2.44 | 112 |
| Gasoline | liquid | 2.22 | 228 |
| Gold | solid | 0.13 | 25.42 |
| Graphite | solid | 0.71 | 8.53 |
| Helium | gas | 5.19 | 20.79 |
| Hydrogen | gas | 14.3 | 28.82 |
| Iron | solid | 0.45 | 25.1 |
| Lithium | solid | 3.58 | 24.8 |
| Mercury | liquid | 0.14 | 27.98 |
| Nitrogen | gas | 1.04 | 29.12 |
| Neon | gas | 1.03 | 20.79 |
| Oxygen | gas | 0.92 | 29.38 |
| Silica (fused) | solid | 0.7 | 42.2 |
| Uranium | solid | 0.116 | 27.7 |
| Water | gas (100 °C) | 2.08 | 37.47 |
| Water | liquid (25 °C) | 4.18 | 75.33 |
| Water | solid (0 °C) | 2.11 | 38.09 |
| Asphalt | solid | 0.92 | |
| Brick | solid | 0.84 | |
| Concrete | solid | 0.88 | |
| Glass, silica | solid | 0.84 | |
| Glass, crown | solid | 0.67 | |
| Glass, flint | solid | 0.5 | |
| Glass, pyrex | solid | 0.75 | |
| Granite | solid | 0.79 | |
| Gypsum | solid | 1.09 | |
| Marble, mica | solid | 0.88 | |
| Sand | solid | 0.84 | |
| Soil | solid | 0.8 | |
| Wood | solid | 0.42 | |
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All measurements are at 25 °C unless otherwise noted. Notable minima and maxima are shown in maroon.
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