So far we have learned that energy can take on many forms. One important form of energy, relative to life on Earth, is kinetic energy . Simply defined, kinetic energy is the energy of motion . The amount of kinetic energy that a body possesses is dependent on the speed of its motion and its mass . At the atomic scale , the kinetic energy of atoms and molecules is sometimes referred to as heat energy .
Kinetic energy is also related to the concept of temperature .
Temperature is defined as the measure of the average speed of atoms and molecules. The higher the temperature, the faster these particles of matter move. Heat is often defined as energy in the process of being transferred from one object to another because of the temperature difference between them. In the atmosphere, heat is commonly transferred by conduction , convection , advection , and radiation . Sensible Heat - is heat that can be measured by a thermometer , and thus sensed by humans.