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4.1: Heat and Temperature

  • Page ID
    32668
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    The study of the relationship between heat, work and internal energy, described macroscopically by temperature, is the focus of thermodynamics. Heat is the energy transferred due to the temperature difference between objects and/or the energy transferred when work is done to change the internal energy of an object. The 2nd law of thermodynamics declares that heat flows naturally from objects of higher temperature to objects at lower temperature. We categorize the mechanism of heat transfer in terms of conduction, convection and radiation. As we study what happens when heat is added to materials, we explore state changes (melting-freezing, vaporizing-condensing) and temperature increases in solids and liquids. As the temperature increases, we also quantitatively describe the expansion of materials.


    This page titled 4.1: Heat and Temperature is shared under a CC BY-NC-ND license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Wolfgang Christian, Mario Belloni, Anne Cox, Melissa H. Dancy, and Aaron Titus, & Thomas M. Colbert.