How to play Heat It Up
Heat It Up is a specific heat capacity game for GCSE physics. The bench has five materials on it: water, aluminium, copper, iron and oil. The specific heat capacity of each one is on screen, so you never need to look a value up.
The first questions give you a mass in grams, the energy supplied in joules and a start temperature. You pick the temperature rise from four answers. After that the game moves on to latent heat, and you find the energy needed to melt some ice or boil some water. The last questions show a heating curve with the points A to F, and you pick the part where the ice melts or the water boils.
A round is ten questions long. A right answer scores 10 points, and you get 5 more if you answer while the speed bonus is still counting. The harder start skips the temperature rise questions, begins with latent heat and gives you more heating curves.
When you pick a wrong answer, the game shows the equation it used, the values with the mass in kilograms, and the right result.
The science behind specific heat capacity and latent heat
Specific heat capacity is the energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 kg of a substance by 1 °C. For water it is 4,200 J/kg °C, which is high. For copper it is 385 J/kg °C, so the same energy warms a kilogram of copper about eleven times as much as a kilogram of water.
The equation is ΔE = m c Δθ. ΔE is the energy in joules, m is the mass in kilograms, c is the specific heat capacity and Δθ is the change in temperature in °C. To find the rise, divide the energy by m times c. If 84,000 J goes into 0.4 kg of water, Δθ = 84,000 ÷ (0.4 × 4,200) = 50 °C. Our page on the specific heat capacity equation has more worked examples.
Latent heat is the energy that changes the state of a substance while its temperature stays the same. Specific latent heat is that energy for 1 kg, and you use E = m L. Melting 0.2 kg of ice takes 0.2 × 334,000 = 66,800 J. Turning water into steam takes far more energy for each kilogram: 2,260,000 J/kg. The specific latent heat equation page shows how each board writes it.
A heating curve shows both ideas on one graph. Ice at −20 °C warms up to 0 °C, then the line goes flat while the ice melts. The water warms to 100 °C, and the line goes flat again while it boils. On the flat parts the energy supplied raises the internal energy of the substance, and the temperature does not change.
Both equations are in AQA GCSE Physics (8463, sections 4.3.2.2 and 4.3.2.3), Edexcel GCSE Physics (1PH0, 14.8 and 14.9) and OCR Gateway Physics A (J249, P1.2e and P1.2f). AQA also asks students to read heating and cooling graphs that include changes of state. Edexcel writes the equations as ΔQ = m × c × Δθ and Q = m × L, and OCR uses a small l for specific latent heat.
In the exam, every board prints all the physics equations on a sheet, so there is no list to learn by heart. The marks come from picking the right equation, putting the mass in kilograms and rearranging it. The physics equation sheet page shows what each board prints.
Tips for specific heat capacity questions
- Change grams to kilograms first: 600 g is 0.6 kg. If you forget, the temperature rise comes out 1,000 times too small.
- Find the material the question names. All five values are on screen, and only one of them fits.
- The answer is the rise in temperature. If you add the start temperature, you get the final temperature, and that is one of the wrong options.
- For a change of state, multiply the mass by L. E = m L has no temperature in it.
- On the heating curve, the flat part at 0 °C is melting and the flat part at 100 °C is boiling.
A quick size check helps too. Water needs a lot of energy to warm up, so a small rise from a big energy input is normal for water. The same energy in a metal gives a much bigger rise.
Use this in the classroom
Heat It Up suits Years 9 to 11 and fits lessons on internal energy, the particle model and changes of state. It works well after the specific heat capacity practical, when students can compare their measured values with the ones on screen.
For a starter, show a heating curve question on the board. Ask the class what the particles are doing on each flat part before anyone chooses an answer. For a plenary, play a full round together and ask students to write the equation for each question on a mini whiteboard first.
Practice mode turns the timer off for students who want more time. Nobody signs in, and the game keeps only a best score in the browser on that device. There are more lesson ideas on the page for teachers.
Similar games
For more on energy, try Energy Stores, which covers energy stores and the ways energy moves between them. Every game on the site is listed on the all games page.
Questions people ask
Here are the questions students and teachers ask most often about specific heat capacity and latent heat.
What is the difference between specific heat capacity and specific latent heat?
Specific heat capacity is the energy to warm 1 kg of a substance by 1 °C. Specific latent heat is the energy to change the state of 1 kg with no change in temperature. Use ΔE = m c Δθ when the temperature changes and E = m L when the state changes.
Why does the temperature stay the same while ice melts?
The energy supplied goes into changing the state. It raises the internal energy of the ice, but the temperature stays at 0 °C until all of the ice has melted. The same thing happens at 100 °C while water boils.
Is the specific heat capacity equation on the GCSE equation sheet?
Yes. AQA, Edexcel and OCR all print both equations on the sheet in the physics exam, each in its own form. You still need to rearrange them and change grams into kilograms yourself.
Which year groups is Heat It Up for?
It is for Years 9 to 11 on a GCSE physics or combined science course. Younger students can start with the temperature rise questions, and students close to their exams can try the harder start.