Temperature and Heat

Heat and temperature are essential concepts for everyone every day. The study of heat and temperature is part of an area of physics known as …

Experimentally, if object A is in equilibrium with object B, and object B is in equilibrium with object C, then object A is in equilibrium with object C. …

Any physical property that depends consistently and reproducibly on temperature can be used as the basis of a thermometer. For example, volume increases …

The definition of temperature in terms of molecular motion suggests that there should be a lowest possible temperature, where the average kinetic energy …

The expansion of alcohol in a thermometer is one of many commonly encountered examples of thermal expansion, which is the change in size or volume of a …

If the temperature of an object is changed while it is prevented from expanding or contracting, the object is subjected to stress. The stress is …

Heat is a type of energy transfer that is caused by a temperature difference, and it can change the temperature of an object. Since heat is a form of …

Phase transitions play an important theoretical and practical role in the study of heat flow. In melting or fusion, a solid turns into a liquid; the …

When objects at different temperatures are placed in contact with each other but isolated from everything else, they attain thermal equilibrium. A …

Just as interesting as the effects of heat transfer on a system are the methods by which the heat transfer occur. Whenever there is a temperature …

In convection, thermal energy is carried by the large-scale flow of matter. Ocean currents and large-scale atmospheric circulation, which result from the …

The average temperature of Earth is the subject of much current discussion. Earth is in radiative contact with both the Sun and dark space; it receives …

San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge is exposed to temperatures ranging from -15 °C to 40 °C. At its coldest, the main span of the bridge is …

The rate of heat transfer by emitted radiation is described by the Stefan-Boltzmann law of radiation: where σ is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant, a …

There are three methods by which heat transfer can take place: conduction, convection, and radiation. Each method has unique and interesting …