It never crosses one’s mind to think why food is measured in Calories. Many nutritionists are not sure of the true origin of the Calorie or why it’s supposed to be capitalized. Traditionally, a Calorie is the amount of energy needed to heat one kilogram of water one degree Celsius. It appears it was first used in engineering and physics, and then found its way in nutrition. With respect to nutrition, it is used to measure the amount of energy food contains. Some historians believe that there is some controversy as to whom invented the Calorie. It appears that two Frenchmen, P. A. Farve and J. T. Silbermann invented the Calorie in 1852. However other references state that a German physician, Julius Mayer, invented the …show more content…
The definition of a Calorie also points to the “specific heat capacity” of a given substance. Specific heat capacity is the amount of heat energy required to raise the temperature of a substance, per unit of mass. The specific heat capacity of a given material is a physical property. In SI units, specific heat capacity (symbol: c) is the amount of heat in joules required to raise 1 gram of substance 1 Kelvin. It is also expressed as J/kg.K. Specific heat capacity may also be expressed in the units of Calories per gram degree Celsius.
Heat Transfer
A simple explanation of heat capacity is the amount of energy that is transferred to a material and the change of temperature that is produced. The formula for this is expressed as: C=Q/∆T. Where C is heat capacity, Q is energy, (expressed in joules), and ∆T is the change in temperature (usually in Celsius, or in Kelvin). Specific heat, and heat capacity are related by mass. The is expressed as: C=m*S. Whereas C is heat capacity, m is the mass of a material, and S is specific heat. It is important to note that specific heat is per unit mass so its value does not change with the size of the sample. For example the specific heat of a drop of water is the same as the specific heat of a gallon of water. The reason being is that heat that is added or removed in a phase change does not alter the temperature. For example water has a specific heat capacity of 4.18J. This is a much higher value than most other substances, thereby making it excellent for regulating