How does the study of heat relate to the kinetic theory of matter - Essay Example

This occurs from a system of high heat to a system of low heat. Heat transfer takes place in threefold: convection, radiation and conduction. Conduction is the movement of heat, via a system, which is not at standardized temperature, from a place with high temperature to places with low temperature, without causing movement of the system or the object. Conversely, convection is the flow of thermal energy by the movement of a fluid because of a temperature variation within it. Finally, radiation is the movement of heat energy from a region to another region by way of electromagnetic waves.

Temperature is a determination of the standard convertible kinetic energy linked to muddled movement of particles. In other words, temperature is the characteristic of a structure that establishes whether there is heat transmitted to the object or from the object. In qualitative terms, temperature entails the determination of the object’s impression of warmth or coldness. This means that in general terms, temperature entails degree of coldness or of hotness of a substance or an object (Sullivan & Edmondson 2008).

The Correlation between Temperature and Heat Numerous people always puzzle between heat and temperature and they sometimes think that the terms mean the same. At the atomic level, heat is the total kinetic energy (KE) in addition to potential energy (PE) while temperature is standard or average Kinetic Energy. At the atomic level, potential energy assists in describing numerous common observations pertaining heat and temperature. For instance, an increase in Potential Energy for atoms implies that they get farther separated (Tinker & Pallant, 2008).

The strong relationship of temperature and heat occurs in the addition or removal of heat in an object. In this regard, the addition of heat to an object raises its temperature while the removal of heat to such an object reduces its temperature. In addition, diverse objects need different amounts of heat for similar temperature rise, although they may have similar mass. Moreover, in case of the contact of two objects having different temperatures, there will be heat transfer from the hotter substance to the cooler substance until both attain similar temperatures (Rousseau & Fourie, 2000).

Another aspect through which there exists a heightened correlation involving heat and temperature is in the case of change of the state of an object. Ordinarily, an object or a substance is either in the solid, liquid or a gaseous state. This relationship therefore emerges when an object is changing its status from solid to liquid or to gaseous form. In this regard, there emerges the issue of latent heat, which is the thermal energy considerable for transforming the status of an object without altering its temperature (Sullivan & Edmondson 2008).

On the other hand, temperature is a dimension that represents the standard kinetic energy of an object's particles. This means that while heat is essentially every bit of kinetic energy in a substance, temperature becomes a determiner of the object's standard quantity of kinetic energy. When there is enough energy, which overrides the quantity required to alter the status of an object completely, then even the temperature can change (Arney, 2011). Haby (2011) adds another major difference that exists in temperature and heat.

This occurs in the sense that there is the possibility of transferring heat or energy without altering the temperature