Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Thermal Energy
& Heat
Objectives:
1. Explain how heat and work transfer
energy
2. Relate thermal energy to the motion of
particles that make up a material
3. Relate temperature to thermal energy
and to thermal expansion
4. Calculate thermal energy, temperature
change, or mass using the specific heat
equation
• Def: heat is the transfer of thermal energy
from one object to another because of
temperature difference
• Heat flows spontaneously from hot
objects to cold objects
• Def: temperature is a measure of how hot
or cold an object is compared to a
reference point
• On the Celsius scale, the reference points
are the freezing point and boiling point of
water
Another reference point is called
absolute zero
Absolute zero is on the Kelvin scale
It is the lowest temperature known
There are no negative values on the
Kelvin scale
Temperature is related to the average
kinetic energy of particles in an object
due to their random motions through
space
• Recall that thermal energy is the total potential
and kinetic energy of all the particles in an object
• Thermal energy depends on the mass,
temperature and phase (solid, liquid, gas) of an
object
• Def: thermal expansion is an increase in the
volume of a material due to a temperature
increase
• Thermal expansion occurs when particles of
matter move farther apart as temperature
increases
Def: Specific heat is the amount of energy
transferred as heat that will raise the
temperature of 1 kg of substance by 1 K
Little c is the symbol for specific heat, &
specific heat is a physical property
The units for specific heat are J/kg-K
We will assume that volume & pressure do
not change in order to do calculations
involving the formula energy = specific
heat x mass x temperature change OR
energy = cm∆t (the ∆ means change & is
the final temperature minus the initial
temperature)
Objectives:
1. Describe conduction, convection and
radiation & identify which one of these
is occurring in a given situation
2. Classify materials as thermal
conductors or thermal insulators
3. State the 3 laws of thermodynamics
4. Apply the first & second laws to
given situations
Def: conduction is the transfer of thermal
energy with no overall transfer of matter
Conduction is the heat energy transfer between
particles as they collide within a substance or
between objects in contact (ex: roasting
marshmallows using a wire coat hanger)
Conduction in gases is slower than in liquids
and solids because the particles of gas collide
less often
Def: a thermal conductor is a material
that conducts thermal energy well
Def: a thermal insulator is a material that
conducts thermal energy poorly
Def: convection is the transfer of thermal
energy when particles of a fluid move
from one place to another
Convection is the heat energy transfer by
movement of fluids with different
temperatures (ex: warm air rising, cools,
condenses, becomes dense and sinks)
A convection current is the flow of
liquid due to heated expansion
followed by cooling and contraction
Convection currents are important in
many natural cycles such as ocean
currents, weather systems, and
movements of hot rock in Earth’s
interior in the asthenosphere under the
lithospheric plates
Def: radiation is the transfer of energy
by waves moving through space
Radiation does not require physical
contact between objects
Radiation does not involve
movement of matter & can take
place in a vacuum (ex: the radiation
we receive from the sun is in a
vacuum)
All objects radiate energy