Good question! Both SPECIFIC and PARTICULAR can be used for something unique or special about a person, place or thing. The word SPECIFIC is used when something is clearly detectable or NOTICEABLE, perhaps measurable. For example, you could say: "this drug has a specific effect on the disease". In other words, it has been noticed by scientists that the drug has these characteristics. You could say: "this specific heat is required to melt the sugar ". In other words, there is a detectable and limited temperature required. The word PARTICULAR is used WHEN YOU SINGLE SOMETHING OUT among may. For example, you could say: "I want a particular book from the library". In other words, you want one book among many others. You could say: "She is the particular person I had in mind for the job". In other words, she was one among many. Hope this helps

Good question. In some senses they are synonyms. Both are used as adjectives to identify an individual, or a sub-group within a larger group, and as nouns as a synonym for detail. However, we also use 'particular' as adjective meaning 'special', 'unique' or even 'odd' or 'peculiar' - you can't really use 'specific' in this way.