Heat and the Kinetic Theory of Matter - Essay Example

The collision between the particles in the matter has been observed by Field (2013) to be perfectly elastic. This theory has been critical in explaining various characteristics of matter including heating and change of state. In solids, the particles would be strongly attracted to one another more than they would be attracted to liquids and gases.

Heat and Temperature Heat refers to a form of energy that when supplied to a matter causes an increase in the internal energy of the matter, typically made up of both the kinetic and potential energies of both its molecules and atoms. The atoms and molecules would have kinetic energy due to the translational, vibrational, and rotational motions and potential energy due to their relative positions. The greater the potential energy of a matter, the greater the molecules would be farther apart. Considering a pot of soup and a mug of soup laded from it, the thermal energy, and heat in the pot would be greater due to the greater number of particles moving and creating energy.

On the other hand, temperature refers to the quantity of energy in a molecule as opposed to heat which measures the total amount of energy contained in all the molecules in a matter. It refers to the coldness or hotness of a matter which is based on the average kinetic energy, hence the relationship between heat and temperature (Baser, 2006). Temperature measures the intensity rather than quantity as in heat (Field, 2013). As such, considering the case of the soup, the particles could be averagely vibrating at the same speed in the pot and the mug thus making them both have the same temperature despite their difference in size.

Temperature, as opposed to heat, is not energy but rather its measure. Heat would normally be transferred from a hotter matter to a colder one until both matters have the same temperature. But at times, heat transfer would not necessarily lead to a change in temperature as the molecules of the matter absorbing heat change or rearrange, referred to as phase change. An example would be water changing to vapor during heating. Both heat and temperature are not observable quantities. Similarly, just like heat, temperature could be measured.

The device used to measure heat changes in a reaction is called a calorimeter which measures in joules (Jung, Lorente, Anderson, & Bejan, 2011). A thermometer would be used to measure temperature in degrees Celsius or Fahrenheit. Properties of a Substance determining its Heat Capacity The heat capacity is a critical property of matter which represents the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of a given quantity of matter by one degree (Zhang et al., 2011). Different materials would have different heat capacities.

Take for instance blocks made of different materials but of the same mass and cross-section of bases. When heated in an oven to the same temperature and placed on a piece of ice, despite their same mass and temperature, they would melt the ice to different depths. When measured per unit mass, this would be referred to as specific heat capacity.