Heat 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. Heat capacity is a physical property of a substance, which means that it depends on the state and properties of the substance under consideration. The specific heats of monatomic gases, such as helium, are nearly constant with temperature. Diatomic gases such as hydrogen display some temperature dependence, and triatomic gases (e.g., carbon dioxide) still more. Before the development of the laws of
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