How do you calculate specific heat of lead?

is the amount of energy it takes to heat one gram of something by one degree Celsius. For example, it takes 4.184 Joules to heat one gram of water by one degree Celsius, so water has a specific heat of 4.184 J/gC.

To find the specific heat of any material do the following:

1) Very carefully measure some quantity of this element.

2) Take the temperature of the element (this will be your initial temperature).

3) Add a known quantity of energy to the element.

4) Take the final temperature of the element.

The specific heat of this element will be equal to the number of joules used divided by the product of the mass and temperature change. Or, to put it in a handy equation form:

C = ##J/(m∆T)##

Where C is the specific heat, J is the amount of energy you added, m is the mass of the material you used in grams, and ∆T is the change in temperature.

Incidentally, another term for specific heat is heat capacity. Why they have two names for the same thing, I have no idea.

OK.