Noun. 1. specific heat-the heat required to raise the temperature of one gram of a substance one degree centigrade. heat, heat energy-a form of energy that is transferred by a difference in temperature. 1  Facebook.
You begin to depreciate your property when you place it in service for use in your trade or business or for the production of income. You stop depreciating property either when you have fully recovered your cost or other basis or when you retire it from service, whichever happens first.
You generally depreciate the cost of business property that has a useful life of more than a year, but gradually wears out, or loses its value due to wear and tear, weather damage, etc. To figure out the depreciation on your rental property: 1  Determine your cost or other tax basis for the property. 2  Allocate that cost to the different types of property included in your rental (such as land, buildings, so on).