Sensible Heat Calculator

Sensible Heat Transfer

Sensible heat is thermal energy transferred when a substance changes temperature without a phase change (no melting, boiling, or condensation). It is the heat you feel when warming water on a stove or cooling air in an HVAC coil.

Sensible Heat Formula

\(Q\) is heat in joules, \(m\) is mass in kilograms, \(c\) is specific heat capacity in J/(kg·K), and \(\Delta T\) is temperature change. For solids and liquids, a change of 1 K equals a change of 1°C, so Celsius differences can be used directly.

Example: heating 10 kg of water (\(c = 4186\) J/kg·K) from 20°C to 25°C requires \(Q = 10 \times 4186 \times 5 = 209{,}300\) J (209.3 kJ).

Specific Heat Values

Water has a high specific heat (4186 J/kg·K), which stabilizes climate and makes it effective for thermal storage. Metals like aluminum (900 J/kg·K) and steel (500 J/kg·K) heat up faster for the same energy input.