Heat facts for kids
Heat is a form of energy. It moves from warmer things to colder things. Think about holding a warm mug. The heat from the mug moves to your colder hands. This makes your hands feel warm.
It's important to know that heat is not the same as temperature. Temperature tells us how hot or cold something is. It measures how fast the tiny particles inside an object are moving. The faster they move, the higher the temperature. When an object gets heat, these particles move faster. This makes the object hotter.
Thermal energy is the total energy stored in an object because of its temperature. It's the energy of all those tiny moving particles inside. Heat is simply the way this energy moves from one place to another. It's like energy "on the go."
How Heat Works
Heat is a type of energy, not a physical thing. It doesn't have mass. Heat always tries to move from a warmer place to a cooler place. This happens until both places are the same temperature.
Heat can move in three main ways:
- Conduction: This is when heat moves through direct touch. For example, if you touch a hot metal spoon, heat moves from the spoon to your hand. The particles in the spoon vibrate and pass energy to the particles in your hand.
- Convection: This happens in liquids and gases. When a liquid or gas is heated, it becomes lighter and rises. Cooler liquid or gas then sinks to take its place. This creates a flow, like boiling water in a pot.
- Radiation: This is when heat moves through waves, like light waves. You can feel heat from the sun or a campfire even without touching them. This heat travels through space as radiation.
The amount of heat needed to change a material's temperature is called its heat capacity. Some materials need a lot of heat to get hotter. Others get hot very quickly with less heat. This depends on how easily their particles can move faster.
Measuring Heat
We can measure how much heat moves from one place to another. The standard unit for measuring heat is the joule.
Scientists often use a tool called a calorimeter to measure heat. A calorimeter works by letting heat from a material flow into a known amount of water. Water's heat capacity is well-known. By measuring the water's temperature before and after, scientists can calculate how much heat was transferred.
Related Topics
Images for kids
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Glowing-hot metal bar due to incandescence
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Rudolf Clausius
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Joseph Black
See also
In Spanish: Calor para niños
