Specific energy
Encyclopedia
Specific energy is defined as the energy
per unit mass
. Common metric units are J
/kg
. It is an intensive property. Contrast this with energy
, which is an extensive property. There are two main types of specific energy: potential energy
and specific kinetic energy. Others are the gray
and sievert
, measures for the absorption of radiation. The concept of specific energy applies to a particular or theoretical way of extracting useful energy from the material considered that is usually implied by context.
Thermodynamic properties related to specific energy include specific internal energy, specific enthalpy, specific Gibbs free energy
, and specific Helmholtz free energy
, all of which use units of energy per mass such as J/kg. These intensive properties are each symbolized by using the lower case letter of the symbol for the corresponding extensive property, which is symbolized by a capital letter. For example, the extensive thermodynamic property enthalpy
is symbolized by H; specific enthalpy is symbolized by h.
If a defined chemical compound
is used which has a definite molar mass
, such intensive thermodynamic properties can be expressed on a per mole
basis instead of a per mass basis. Such quantities can be described as molar quantities; for example, molar enthalpy meaning enthalpy per mole. These intensive quantities will use units of energy per mole, such as J/mol (mol is short for mole) or in older chemistry literature kcal/mol.
By dividing by 3.6 the figures for megajoules per kilogram can be converted to kilowatt-hours per kilogram. Unfortunately, the useful energy available by extraction from an energy store is always less than the energy put into the energy store, as explained by the laws of thermodynamics
.
s) by the serving size (usually in grams, milliliters or fluid ounces). Energy density is thus expressed in cal/g, kcal/g, J/g, kJ/g, cal/mL, kcal/mL, J/mL, or kJ/mL. The "calorie" commonly used in nutritional contexts is the kilogram-calorie (abbreviated "Cal" and sometimes called the "dietary calorie", "food calorie" or "Calorie" with a capital "C"). This is equivalent to a thousand gram-calories (abbreviated "cal") or one kilocalorie (kcal). Because food energy is commonly measured in calories, the energy density of food is commonly called "caloric density".
Energy density measures the energy released when the food is metabolized by a healthy organism when it ingests the food (see food energy
for calculation) and the food is metabolized with oxygen, into waste products such as carbon dioxide
and water. Besides alcohol
the only sources of food energy are carbohydrate
s, fat
s and protein
s, which make up ninety percent of the dry weight of food. Therefore, water
content is the most important factor in energy density. Carbohydrates and proteins provide four calories per gram (17 kJ/g), whereas fat provides nine calories per gram (38 kJ/g), times as much energy. Foods that derive most of their energy from fat have a much higher energy density than those that derive most of their energy from carbohydrates or proteins, even if the water content is the same. Nutrients with a lower absorption, such as fiber
or sugar alcohol
s, lower the energy density of foods as well. A moderate energy density would be 1.6 to 3 calories per gram (7–13 kJ/g); salmon, lean meat, and bread would fall in this category. High-energy foods would have more than three calories per gram and include crackers, cheese, dark chocolate, and peanuts.
in a Newtonian gravitational system
.
Energy
In physics, energy is an indirectly observed quantity. It is often understood as the ability a physical system has to do work on other physical systems...
per unit mass
Mass
Mass can be defined as a quantitive measure of the resistance an object has to change in its velocity.In physics, mass commonly refers to any of the following three properties of matter, which have been shown experimentally to be equivalent:...
. Common metric units are J
Joule
The joule ; symbol J) is a derived unit of energy or work in the International System of Units. It is equal to the energy expended in applying a force of one newton through a distance of one metre , or in passing an electric current of one ampere through a resistance of one ohm for one second...
/kg
Kilogram
The kilogram or kilogramme , also known as the kilo, is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units and is defined as being equal to the mass of the International Prototype Kilogram , which is almost exactly equal to the mass of one liter of water...
. It is an intensive property. Contrast this with energy
Energy
In physics, energy is an indirectly observed quantity. It is often understood as the ability a physical system has to do work on other physical systems...
, which is an extensive property. There are two main types of specific energy: potential energy
Potential energy
In physics, potential energy is the energy stored in a body or in a system due to its position in a force field or due to its configuration. The SI unit of measure for energy and work is the Joule...
and specific kinetic energy. Others are the gray
Gray (unit)
The gray is the SI unit of absorbed radiation dose of ionizing radiation , and is defined as the absorption of one joule of ionizing radiation by one kilogram of matter ....
and sievert
Sievert
The sievert is the International System of Units SI derived unit of dose equivalent radiation. It attempts to quantitatively evaluate the biological effects of ionizing radiation as opposed to just the absorbed dose of radiation energy, which is measured in gray...
, measures for the absorption of radiation. The concept of specific energy applies to a particular or theoretical way of extracting useful energy from the material considered that is usually implied by context.
Thermodynamic properties related to specific energy include specific internal energy, specific enthalpy, specific Gibbs free energy
Gibbs free energy
In thermodynamics, the Gibbs free energy is a thermodynamic potential that measures the "useful" or process-initiating work obtainable from a thermodynamic system at a constant temperature and pressure...
, and specific Helmholtz free energy
Helmholtz free energy
In thermodynamics, the Helmholtz free energy is a thermodynamic potential that measures the “useful” work obtainable from a closed thermodynamic system at a constant temperature and volume...
, all of which use units of energy per mass such as J/kg. These intensive properties are each symbolized by using the lower case letter of the symbol for the corresponding extensive property, which is symbolized by a capital letter. For example, the extensive thermodynamic property enthalpy
Enthalpy
Enthalpy is a measure of the total energy of a thermodynamic system. It includes the internal energy, which is the energy required to create a system, and the amount of energy required to make room for it by displacing its environment and establishing its volume and pressure.Enthalpy is a...
is symbolized by H; specific enthalpy is symbolized by h.
If a defined chemical compound
Chemical compound
A chemical compound is a pure chemical substance consisting of two or more different chemical elements that can be separated into simpler substances by chemical reactions. Chemical compounds have a unique and defined chemical structure; they consist of a fixed ratio of atoms that are held together...
is used which has a definite molar mass
Molar mass
Molar mass, symbol M, is a physical property of a given substance , namely its mass per amount of substance. The base SI unit for mass is the kilogram and that for amount of substance is the mole. Thus, the derived unit for molar mass is kg/mol...
, such intensive thermodynamic properties can be expressed on a per mole
Mole (unit)
The mole is a unit of measurement used in chemistry to express amounts of a chemical substance, defined as an amount of a substance that contains as many elementary entities as there are atoms in 12 grams of pure carbon-12 , the isotope of carbon with atomic weight 12. This corresponds to a value...
basis instead of a per mass basis. Such quantities can be described as molar quantities; for example, molar enthalpy meaning enthalpy per mole. These intensive quantities will use units of energy per mole, such as J/mol (mol is short for mole) or in older chemistry literature kcal/mol.
By dividing by 3.6 the figures for megajoules per kilogram can be converted to kilowatt-hours per kilogram. Unfortunately, the useful energy available by extraction from an energy store is always less than the energy put into the energy store, as explained by the laws of thermodynamics
Laws of thermodynamics
The four laws of thermodynamics summarize its most important facts. They define fundamental physical quantities, such as temperature, energy, and entropy, in order to describe thermodynamic systems. They also describe the transfer of energy as heat and work in thermodynamic processes...
.
Energy density of food
Energy density is the amount of energy per mass or volume of food. The energy density of a food can be determined from the label by dividing the energy per serving (usually in kilojoules or calorieCalorie
The calorie is a pre-SI metric unit of energy. It was first defined by Nicolas Clément in 1824 as a unit of heat, entering French and English dictionaries between 1841 and 1867. In most fields its use is archaic, having been replaced by the SI unit of energy, the joule...
s) by the serving size (usually in grams, milliliters or fluid ounces). Energy density is thus expressed in cal/g, kcal/g, J/g, kJ/g, cal/mL, kcal/mL, J/mL, or kJ/mL. The "calorie" commonly used in nutritional contexts is the kilogram-calorie (abbreviated "Cal" and sometimes called the "dietary calorie", "food calorie" or "Calorie" with a capital "C"). This is equivalent to a thousand gram-calories (abbreviated "cal") or one kilocalorie (kcal). Because food energy is commonly measured in calories, the energy density of food is commonly called "caloric density".
Energy density measures the energy released when the food is metabolized by a healthy organism when it ingests the food (see food energy
Food energy
Food energy is the amount of energy obtained from food that is available through cellular respiration.Food energy is expressed in food calories or kilojoules...
for calculation) and the food is metabolized with oxygen, into waste products such as carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...
and water. Besides alcohol
Ethanol
Ethanol, also called ethyl alcohol, pure alcohol, grain alcohol, or drinking alcohol, is a volatile, flammable, colorless liquid. It is a psychoactive drug and one of the oldest recreational drugs. Best known as the type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, it is also used in thermometers, as a...
the only sources of food energy are carbohydrate
Carbohydrate
A carbohydrate is an organic compound with the empirical formula ; that is, consists only of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, with a hydrogen:oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 . However, there are exceptions to this. One common example would be deoxyribose, a component of DNA, which has the empirical...
s, fat
Fat
Fats consist of a wide group of compounds that are generally soluble in organic solvents and generally insoluble in water. Chemically, fats are triglycerides, triesters of glycerol and any of several fatty acids. Fats may be either solid or liquid at room temperature, depending on their structure...
s and protein
Protein
Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...
s, which make up ninety percent of the dry weight of food. Therefore, water
Water
Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...
content is the most important factor in energy density. Carbohydrates and proteins provide four calories per gram (17 kJ/g), whereas fat provides nine calories per gram (38 kJ/g), times as much energy. Foods that derive most of their energy from fat have a much higher energy density than those that derive most of their energy from carbohydrates or proteins, even if the water content is the same. Nutrients with a lower absorption, such as fiber
Fiber
Fiber is a class of materials that are continuous filaments or are in discrete elongated pieces, similar to lengths of thread.They are very important in the biology of both plants and animals, for holding tissues together....
or sugar alcohol
Sugar alcohol
A sugar alcohol is a hydrogenated form of carbohydrate, whose carbonyl group has been reduced to a primary or secondary hydroxyl group . Sugar alcohols have the general formula Hn+1H, whereas sugars have HnHCO...
s, lower the energy density of foods as well. A moderate energy density would be 1.6 to 3 calories per gram (7–13 kJ/g); salmon, lean meat, and bread would fall in this category. High-energy foods would have more than three calories per gram and include crackers, cheese, dark chocolate, and peanuts.
Astrodynamics
Specific energy, rather than simply energy, is often used in astrodynamics, because gravity changes the kinetic and potential specific energies of a vehicle in obvious ways that are independent of the mass of the vehicle, consistent with the conservation of energyConservation of energy
The nineteenth century law of conservation of energy is a law of physics. It states that the total amount of energy in an isolated system remains constant over time. The total energy is said to be conserved over time...
in a Newtonian gravitational system
Newton's law of universal gravitation
Newton's law of universal gravitation states that every point mass in the universe attracts every other point mass with a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them...
.
Miscellaneous
- Kinetic energyKinetic energyThe kinetic energy of an object is the energy which it possesses due to its motion.It is defined as the work needed to accelerate a body of a given mass from rest to its stated velocity. Having gained this energy during its acceleration, the body maintains this kinetic energy unless its speed changes...
per unit mass: v2, where v is the speed (giving J/kg when v is in m/s). See also kinetic energy per unit mass of projectiles.
- Potential energyPotential energyIn physics, potential energy is the energy stored in a body or in a system due to its position in a force field or due to its configuration. The SI unit of measure for energy and work is the Joule...
with respect to gravity, close to earth, per unit mass: gh, where g is the acceleration due to gravity (standardizedStandard gravityStandard gravity, or standard acceleration due to free fall, usually denoted by g0 or gn, is the nominal acceleration of an object in a vacuum near the surface of the Earth. It is defined as precisely , or about...
as ~9.8 m/s2) and h is the height above the reference level (giving J/kg when g is in m/s2 and h is in m).
- HeatHeatIn physics and thermodynamics, heat is energy transferred from one body, region, or thermodynamic system to another due to thermal contact or thermal radiation when the systems are at different temperatures. It is often described as one of the fundamental processes of energy transfer between...
: energies per unit mass are specific heat capacity times temperatureTemperatureTemperature is a physical property of matter that quantitatively expresses the common notions of hot and cold. Objects of low temperature are cold, while various degrees of higher temperatures are referred to as warm or hot...
difference, and specific melting heatLatent heatLatent heat is the heat released or absorbed by a chemical substance or a thermodynamic system during a process that occurs without a change in temperature. A typical example is a change of state of matter, meaning a phase transition such as the melting of ice or the boiling of water. The term was...
, and specific heat of vaporizationStandard enthalpy change of vaporizationThe enthalpy of vaporization, , also known as the heat of vaporization or heat of evaporation, is the energy required to transform a given quantity of a substance into a gas at a given pressure .It is often measured at the normal boiling point of a substance; although tabulated values are usually...
See also
- Energy densityEnergy densityEnergy density is a term used for the amount of energy stored in a given system or region of space per unit volume. Often only the useful or extractable energy is quantified, which is to say that chemically inaccessible energy such as rest mass energy is ignored...
- Specific powerSpecific powerIn physics and engineering, surface power density or sometimes simply specific power is power per unit area.-Applications:* The intensity of electromagnetic radiation can be expressed in W/m2...
- Heating value
- Specific orbital energySpecific orbital energyIn the gravitational two-body problem, the specific orbital energy \epsilon\,\! of two orbiting bodies is the constant sum of their mutual potential energy and their total kinetic energy , divided by the reduced mass...