Temperature and Heat
These terms are often used to talk about the same thing. However, they do mean different things. Can you explain the difference between temperature and heat? First remember what is happening to a substance as it gets hotter. What is happening to the molecules in the substance?
Temperature.This is a measure of the average kinetic (movement) energy of the molecules in the substance. The higher the temperature, the more the molecules vibrate / move. It will have a higher temperature and also expand.
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Heat.This is the total amount of kinetic energy stored in a substance.
Not just the average (Temperature) but the total. |
This is why a burning match has a higher temperature than a swimming pool, but the pool contains more heat energy than the match.
Objects at the same temperature will have different amounts of heat energy depending on their volume / size.
Objects at the same temperature will have different amounts of heat energy depending on their volume / size.
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