If something has a high specific heat capacity does that mean that it is a poor conductor of heat?

Question

Basically, substances with high specific heat capacity have a greater ability to store heat. Does this go hand in hand with thermal conductivity? Poor conductors do not transfer heat well, trap heat and therefore make things feel warm to touch. Substances with high specific heat capacity resist changes in temperature as well. So is it safe and correct to assume that poor conductors always have higher specific heat capacity than good conductors like metals?

Answer 1

Basically, substances with high specific heat capacity have a greater ability to store heat. Does this go hand in hand with thermal conductivity?

As a rule, there is an inverse relationship between thermal conductivity and specific heat- metals (electrical conductors) have higher thermal conductivity and lower specific heats than. non-metals (e.g. plastics).

Poor conductors do not transfer heat well, trap heat and therefore Make things feel warm to touch

No. In general thermal conductivity and not specific heat determines how warm or cool something feels because it determines the rate of heat transfer to or from the skin. Heat capacity can limit the amount of heat available for low mass.

For surface temperatures greater than the skin, Good conductors of the same temperature as a poor conductor prior to being touched will feel warmer to the skin. That's because they transfer heat to the skin at a faster rate.

At temperatures lower than the skin, the good conductor will feel cooler than the poor conductor because it will transfer heat away from the skin at a faster rate.

Try touching some plastic items and metal items at room temperature. Unless its mass is very low, the metal item will feel cooler than the plastic item, even though they have the same pre-touch temperature.

So is it safe and correct to assume that poor conductors always have higher specific heat capacity than good conductors like metals?

Again, as a rule, yes. But you also need to keep in mind that, in general, good conductors (like metal) have a higher density than poor conductors (like plastics). So when you take into account the density, the volumetric heat capacity (heat capacity of equal volumes of a material) of a good conductor and poor conductor do not differ that greatly.

Hope this helps.