Temperature dependence of specific heat capacity and its effect on asteroid thermal models

Meteoritics & Planetary Science 34, 121-127 (1999) 0 Meteoritical Society, 1999. Printed in USA.

Temperature dependence of specific heat capacity and its effect on asteroid thermal models

AMITABHA GHOSH* AND HARRY Y. MCSWEEN, JR.

Department of Geological Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996-1410, USA

*Correspondence author's e-mail address: [e-mail]

(Received 1998 May 27; accepted in revised form 1998 November 6)

Abstract-Asteroid thermal models have typically employed a constant value of specific heat capacity, although this parameter is a function of temperature. We examine whether incorporation of the temperature dependence of specific heat capacity is a necessary refinement and find that including it produces considerable differences in thermal history. Though the temperature effect is demonstrated in a representative calculation for a chondritic asteroid with 26Al decay as a heat source, this result also has implications for asteroidal thermal models based on electromagnetic induction heating or heating by impact, as well as for thermal models of the terrestrial planets.