Heat Capacity
Definition
How much heat a whole object needs to warm up by 1 degree Celsius. A swimming pool has enormous heat capacity; a teaspoon of water has tiny heat capacity.
Symbol: · Unit: J/C
Technical definition
Heat capacity is the heat required to raise an entire object's temperature by one kelvin. Unlike specific heat it is extensive, scaling with the amount of material, and equals mass times specific heat.
Example
A 50,000-liter swimming pool has a heat capacity of about 2.1 x 10^8 J/C: it barely notices a sunny afternoon.
Common confusion
Heat capacity and specific heat capacity are different quantities. Heat capacity describes the whole sample (J/C) while specific heat is per unit mass (J/(g C)).