# Thermal Energy, Heat, and Work

## Heat, Specific Heat, and Heat Transfer


### Section Key Terms


### Heat Transfer, Specific Heat, and Heat Capacity

We learned in the previous section that temperature is proportional to the average kinetic energy of atoms and molecules in a substance, and that the average internal kinetic energy of a substance is higher when the substance’s temperature is higher.
If two objects at different temperatures are brought in contact with each other, energy is transferred from the hotter object (that is, the object with the greater temperature) to the colder (lower temperature) object, until both objects are at the same temperature. There is no net heat transfer once the temperatures are equal because the amount of heat transferred from one object to the other is the same as the amount of heat returned. One of the major effects of heat transfer is temperature change: Heating increases the temperature while cooling decreases it. Experiments show that the heat transferred to or from a substance depends on three factors—the change in the substance’s temperature, the mass of the substance, and certain physical properties related to the phase of the substance.
The equation for heat transfer Q is
 
where m is the mass of the substance and ΔT is the change in its temperature, in units of Celsius or Kelvin. The symbol c stands for specific heat, and depends on the material and phase. The specific heat is the amount of heat necessary to change the temperature of 1.00 kg of mass by 1.00 ºC. The specific heat c is a property of the substance; its SI unit is J/(kg 
  K) or J/(kg 
   
  ). The temperature change ( 
  ) is the same in units of kelvins and degrees Celsius (but not degrees Fahrenheit). Specific heat is closely related to the concept of heat capacity. Heat capacity is the amount of heat necessary to change the temperature of a substance by 1.00 
  . In equation form, heat capacity C is  
, where m is mass and c is specific heat. Note that heat capacity is the same as specific heat, but without any dependence on mass. Consequently, two objects made up of the same material but with different masses will have different heat capacities. This is because the heat capacity is a property of an object, but specific heat is a property of any object made of the same material.
Values of specific heat must be looked up in tables, because there is no simple way to calculate them.  gives the values of specific heat for a few substances as a handy reference. We see from this table that the specific heat of water is five times that of glass, which means that it takes five times as much heat to raise the temperature of 1 kg of water than to raise the temperature of 1 kg of glass by the same number of degrees.

### Conduction, Convection, and Radiation

Whenever there is a temperature difference, heat transfer occurs. Heat transfer may happen rapidly, such as through a cooking pan, or slowly, such as through the walls of an insulated cooler.
There are three different heat transfer methods: conduction, convection, and radiation. At times, all three may happen simultaneously. See .
Conduction is heat transfer through direct physical contact. Heat transferred between the electric burner of a stove and the bottom of a pan is transferred by conduction. Sometimes, we try to control the conduction of heat to make ourselves more comfortable. Since the rate of heat transfer is different for different materials, we choose fabrics, such as a thick wool sweater, that slow down the transfer of heat away from our bodies in winter.
As you walk barefoot across the living room carpet, your feet feel relatively comfortable…until you step onto the kitchen’s tile floor. Since the carpet and tile floor are both at the same temperature, why does one feel colder than the other? This is explained by different rates of heat transfer: The tile material removes heat from your skin at a greater rate than the carpeting, which makes it feel colder.
Some materials simply conduct thermal energy faster than others. In general, metals (like copper, aluminum, gold, and silver) are good heat conductors, whereas materials like wood, plastic, and rubber are poor heat conductors.
 shows particles (either atoms or molecules) in two bodies at different temperatures. The (average) kinetic energy of a particle in the hot body is higher than in the colder body. If two particles collide, energy transfers from the particle with greater kinetic energy to the particle with less kinetic energy. When two bodies are in contact, many particle collisions occur, resulting in a net flux of heat from the higher-temperature body to the lower-temperature body. The heat flux depends on the temperature difference  
  . Therefore, you will get a more severe burn from boiling water than from hot tap water.
Convection is heat transfer by the movement of a fluid. This type of heat transfer happens, for example, in a pot boiling on the stove, or in thunderstorms, where hot air rises up to the base of the clouds.
As the temperature of fluids increase, they expand and become less dense. For example,  could represent the wall of a balloon with different temperature gases inside the balloon than outside in the environment.  The hotter and thus faster moving gas particles inside the balloon strike the surface with more force than the cooler air outside, causing the balloon to expand. This decrease in density relative to its environment creates buoyancy (the tendency to rise). Convection is driven by buoyancy—hot air rises because it is less dense than the surrounding air. 
Sometimes, we control the temperature of our homes or ourselves by controlling air movement. Sealing leaks around doors with weather stripping keeps out the cold wind in winter. The house in  and the pot of water on the stove in  are both examples of convection and buoyancy by human design. Ocean currents and large-scale atmospheric circulation transfer energy from one part of the globe to another, and are examples of natural convection.
Radiation is a form of heat transfer that occurs when electromagnetic radiation is emitted or absorbed. Electromagnetic radiation includes radio waves, microwaves, infrared radiation, visible light, ultraviolet radiation, X-rays, and gamma rays, all of which have different wavelengths and amounts of energy (shorter wavelengths have higher frequency and more energy).
You can feel the heat transfer from a fire and from the sun. Similarly, you can sometimes tell that the oven is hot without touching its door or looking inside—it may just warm you as you walk by. Another example is thermal radiation from the human body; people are constantly emitting infrared radiation, which is not visible to the human eye, but is felt as heat.
Radiation is the only method of heat transfer where no medium is required, meaning that the heat doesn’t need to come into direct contact with or be transported by any matter. The space between Earth and the sun is largely empty, without any possibility of heat transfer by convection or conduction. Instead, heat is transferred by radiation, and Earth is warmed as it absorbs electromagnetic radiation emitted by the sun.
All objects absorb and emit electromagnetic radiation (see ). The rate of heat transfer by radiation depends mainly on the color of the object. Black is the most effective absorber and radiator, and white is the least effective. People living in hot climates generally avoid wearing black clothing, for instance. Similarly, black asphalt in a parking lot will be hotter than adjacent patches of grass on a summer day, because black absorbs better than green. The reverse is also true—black radiates better than green. On a clear summer night, the black asphalt will be colder than the green patch of grass, because black radiates energy faster than green. In contrast, white is a poor absorber and also a poor radiator. A white object reflects nearly all radiation, like a mirror. 

### Solving Heat Transfer Problems


### Practice Problems


### Check Your Understanding


### Section Summary

1. Heat is thermal (internal) energy transferred due to a temperature difference.
2. The transfer of heat Q that leads to a change  
   in the temperature of a body with mass m is  
 , where c is the specific heat of the material.
3. Heat is transferred by three different methods: conduction, convection, and radiation.
4. Heat conduction is the transfer of heat between two objects in direct contact with each other.
5. Convection is heat transfer by the movement of mass.
6. Radiation is heat transfer by electromagnetic waves.

### Key Equations


### Concept Items


### Critical Thinking


### Problems


### Test Prep Multiple Choice


### Test Prep Short Answer


### Test Prep Extended Response
