Which of the following statements about specific heat of a body is/are correct ? 1. It depends upon mass and shape of the body 2. It is independent of mass and shape of the body 3. It depends only upon the tempera-ture of the body Select the correct answer using the code given below :

The correct answer is Option 4 (2 only). Specific heat capacity is defined as the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of a unit mass of a substance by one degree Celsius.

• Statement 1 is incorrect: Specific heat is an intensive property, meaning it depends solely on the nature of the material and its state. It does not change regardless of the object's mass or geometric shape.
• Statement 2 is correct: Since it is a characteristic property of the substance itself, a small iron nail and a large iron block will have the same specific heat. It remains independent of physical dimensions and quantity.
• Statement 3 is incorrect: While specific heat can vary slightly with extreme temperature ranges in advanced thermodynamics, for standard physical applications and general science, it is treated as a constant for a particular phase of a substance. It does not depend only on temperature.

Therefore, only statement 2 accurately describes the nature of specific heat capacity.