Assume that the kinetic energy of a 1400 kg car moving at 115 km/h (Problem 1.78) is converted entirely into heat. How many calories of heat are released, and what amount of water in liters could be heated from 20.0 °C to 50.0 °C by the car's energy? (One calorie raises the temperature of 1 mL of water by 1 °C)

Kinetic energy is the energy an object possesses due to its motion, calculated using the formula KE = 0.5 * m * v², where m is mass and v is velocity. In this scenario, the car's mass is 1400 kg and its speed is converted from km/h to m/s to find the kinetic energy in joules, which will later be converted to calories.

The conversion between joules and calories is essential for this problem. One calorie is defined as the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 °C. Knowing that 1 calorie equals approximately 4.184 joules allows us to convert the kinetic energy calculated into calories to determine how much heat is released.

Specific heat capacity is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of a unit mass of a substance by one degree Celsius. For water, this value is 1 cal/g°C, meaning that to heat water from 20.0 °C to 50.0 °C, we can use the heat energy calculated from the car's kinetic energy to find out how many grams (or liters, since 1 mL of water has a mass of 1 g) can be heated to that temperature.