The heat capacity is a fundamental quantity that permits calculation of thermodynamic quantities at any temperature. It is tabulated just like the enthalpy. In precise applications the full temperature dependence of the heat capacity must be taken in to account. However, we will treat the capacity as a constant in problem solving. The heat capacity is easiest to understand for gases where we can directly calculate approximate values based only on the number of degrees of freedom in monatomic, diatomic and polyatomic gases. However, for liquids and solids it is not possible to predict the heat capacity. Instead it is measured. One way to measure the heat capacity is by using caloriemtry.
