THE CALORIE
 

The unit of heat used by physicists is the calorie.You’ve heard and read this word many times. The calorie that scientists use is a much smaller unit than the calorie used by nutritionists—only 1/1,000 as large—and the scientific use of the term usually refers to inanimate things, whereas the nutritional term involves biologic processes.
The calorie (cal) in which we, as physicists, are interested is the amount of energy transfer that raises or lowers the temperature of exactly one gram (1 g) of pure liquid water by exactly one degree Celsius (1°C). The kilocalorie (kcal), equivalent to the nutritionist’s calorie, is the amount of energy transfer that will raise or lower the temperature of 1 kg, or 1,000 g, of pure liquid water by 1°C. This holds true only as long as the water is liquid during the entire process. If any of the water freezes, thaws, boils, or condenses, this definition falls apart. At standard atmospheric pressure at Earth’s surface, in general, this definition holds for temperatures between approximately 0°C (the freezing point of water) and 100°C (the boiling point).