What does a high specific heat capacity indicate about a substance?

A high specific heat capacity indicates that a substance can absorb a considerable amount of heat energy without experiencing a significant change in its temperature. This property means that when heat is added to the substance, the energy goes into breaking intermolecular bonds or increasing molecular motion, rather than just raising its temperature.

For instance, water has a high specific heat capacity, which is why large bodies of water, like oceans and lakes, can moderate climate temperatures—absorbing heat during the day and releasing it at night with minimal temperature fluctuations. This characteristic makes substances with high specific heat capacities stable thermal environments, capable of supporting various life processes that depend on regulated temperature conditions.

The other options relate to physical properties that do not directly correlate with specific heat capacity. While substances with low specific heat capacity can change temperature easily or may evaporate quickly, specific heat capacity itself focuses solely on how much heat energy a substance can absorb before its temperature noticeably increases. Similarly, density measures mass per unit volume and not heat absorption capabilities.