Quantity of Heat

Think of heat capacity as how much total heat energy something needs to raise its temperature by 1°C. A large pot of soup needs more heat energy to warm up than a small cup of the same soup. Specific heat capacity, however, is the amount of heat needed to raise 1kg of a substance by 1°C. It's a property that depends only on the material itself, not its size.

Consider a large aluminium pot and a small iron nail. The pot needs more total heat energy than the nail to warm up by the same temperature—that's heat capacity. But if you compare equal masses of aluminium and iron, iron requires less energy per kilogram to heat up. This difference is specific heat capacity. Water has an unusually high specific heat capacity, which is why Nigerian coastal areas experience moderate temperatures compared to inland regions.