No doubt you already have a good idea of what temperature is. You might define it as how hot or cold something feels. In physics, temperature is defined as the average kinetic energy of the particles in an object. When particles move more quickly, temperature is higher and an object feels warmer. When particles move more slowly, temperature is lower and an object feels cooler. If two objects have the same mass, the object with the higher temperature has greater thermal energy. Temperature affects thermal energy, but temperature isnt the same thing as thermal energy. Thats because an objects mass also affects its thermal energy. The examples in Figure 18.1 make this clear. In the figure, the particles of cocoa are moving faster than the particles of bathwater. Therefore, the cocoa has a higher temperature. However, the bath water has more thermal energy because there is so much more of it. It has many more moving particles. Bill Nye the Science Guy cleverly discusses these concepts at this URL: MEDIA Click image to the left or use the URL below. URL: If youre still not clear about the relationship between temperature and thermal energy, watch the animation "Tem- perature" at this URL: . Temperature is measured with a thermometer. A thermometer shows how hot or cold something is relative to two reference temperatures, usually the freezing and boiling points of water. Scientists often use the Celsius scale for temperature. On this scale, the freezing point of water is 0C and the boiling point is 100C. To learn more about measuring temperature, watch the animation Measuring Temperature at this URL: Did you ever wonder how a thermometer works? Look at the thermometer in Figure 18.2. Particles of the red liquid have greater energy when they are warmer, so they move more and spread apart. This causes the liquid to expand and rise higher in the glass tube. Like the liquid in a thermometer, most types of matter expand to some degree when they get warmer. Gases usually expand the most when heated, followed by liquids. Solids generally expand the least. (Water is an exception; it takes up more space as a solid than as a liquid.) Something that has a high temperature is said to be hot. Does temperature measure heat? Is heat just another word for thermal energy? The answer to both questions is no. Heat is the transfer of thermal energy between objects that have different temperatures. Thermal energy always moves from an object with a higher temperature to an object with a lower temperature. When thermal energy is transferred in this way, the warm object becomes cooler and the cool object becomes warmer. Sooner or later, both objects will have the same temperature. Only then does the transfer of thermal energy end. For a visual explanation of these concepts, watch the animation "Temperature vs. Heat" at this URL: . Figure 18.3 illustrates an example of thermal energy transfer. Before the spoon was put into the steaming hot coffee, it was cool to the touch. Once in the coffee, the spoon heated up quickly. The fast-moving particles of the coffee transferred some of their energy to the slower-moving particles of the spoon. The spoon particles started moving faster and became warmer, causing the temperature of the spoon to rise. Because the coffee particles lost some of their kinetic energy to the spoon particles, the coffee particles started to move more slowly. This caused the temperature of the coffee to fall. Before long, the coffee and spoon had the same temperature. The girls in Figure 18.4 are having fun at the beach. Its a warm, sunny day, and the sand feels hot under their bare hands and feet. The water, in contrast, feels much cooler. Why does the sand get so hot while the water does not? The answer has to do with specific heat. Specific heat is the amount of energy (in joules) needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of a substance by 1C. Specific heat is a property that is specific to a given type of matter. Table 18.1 lists the specific heat of four different substances. Metals such
Output: amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of a substance by 1 C