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Converting Joules to Calories |
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Converting Joules to Calories A calorie is an older unit of heat energy that was used before Joules. Rule: One calorie is equal to 4.18 Joules. Calories are often used when working with water because water has a specific heat of 4.18 Joules / gXC0 . This would make the specific heat of water equal to 1 calorie / gXC0. Example 1: The specific heat of sodium is 1.228 Joules / gXC0 . To convert it to calories, we just divide the number of Joules by 4.18. 1.228 / 4.18 = 0.294 So, the specific heat of sodium would be equal to 0.294 calories / gXC0 . Example 2: The specific heat of silicon is equal to 0.170035 calories / gXC0 . To convert this to Joules, we would multiply the number of calories by 4.18. 0.170035 X 4.18 = 0.711 So, the specific heat is equal to 0.711 Joules / gXC0 . Note: The energy in food is commonly measured in calories. This measurement shouldn't be confused with the calorie equal to 4.18 Joules. The calories in food are really kilocalories and should be written like this: Calorie. A (food) Calorie is equal to 1000 calories, or 4180 joules. Here are some links related to heat and energy concepts, such as units of measurement. Chemtutor's Information on Units A Short Description of What a Calorie Is A Calculator for Converting Heat Units Homework Helpers: Chemistry - A review book by this site's author. ©Richard Treulieb 1998 Please forward all questions, comments and criticisms to Gregory L. Curran. |
