Heat capacity system. When expressing the same phenomenon as an intensive property, the heat capacity is divided by the amount of substance, mass, or volume, thus the quantity is independent of the size or extent of the sample. The molar heat capacity is the heat capacity per unit amount (SI unit: mole) of a pure substance, and the specific heat capacity, often called simply specific heat, is the heat capacity per unit mass of a material. Nonetheless some authors use the term specific heat to refer to the ratio of the specific heat capacity of a substance at any given temperature to
Arbitrary unit (such as "p.d.u./L"). Arbitrary unit In science and technology, an arbitrary unit (abbreviated arb. unit, "see below") or procedure defined unit (p.d.u.) is a relative unit of measurement to show the ratio of amount of substance, intensity, or other quantities, to a predetermined reference measurement. The reference measurement is typically defined by the local laboratories or dependent on individual measurement apparatus. It is therefore impossible to compare "1 arb. unit" by one measurer and "1000 arb. unit" by another measurer without detailed prior knowledge on how the respective "arbitrary units" were defined; thus, the unit is sometimes called an unknown