Heat Capacity Intensive or Extensive?

[Nathan Tran 4K]

I've seen some chem mods say it is intensive and others say it is extensive. I believe it is extensive because it is not standardized to grams or moles and as such depends on how much "stuff" there is. Is this wrong?

[MariahClark 2F]

I don't know about your reasoning, but heat capacity is extensive. It changes when it becomes specific heat capacity, as that is intensive instead.

[Ashley Fang 2G]

There is a general rule that thermodynamic properties that are extensive are written in capital letters: V (volume), C (heat capacity), etc. Properties that are intensive are written in lower case.

Exceptions are temperature and pressure which are generally represented by upper case letters T and P, even though they are intensive properties.

[Maya Pakulski 1D]

I don't know about your reasoning, but heat capacity is extensive. It changes when it becomes specific heat capacity, as that is intensive instead.

What is the difference between intensive and extensive in general?

[305385703]

Depends on if you're talking about specific heat capacity or just heat capacity. Heat capacity is how much energy is required to increase the temperature of an arbitrary amount of substance—if the amount is increased, the heat capacity is increased. However, specific heat capacity is how much energy is required to increase a specific amount of substance up a degree, so increasing the amount does not matter.