They are then said to be in thermal equilibrium.Īs with work, the amount of heat transferred depends upon the path and not simply on the initial and final conditions of the system. When the flow of heat stops, they are said to be at the same temperature. Heat transfer occurs by conduction or by thermal radiation. When a temperature difference does exist heat flows spontaneously from the warmer system to the colder system. In general, when two objects are brought into thermal contact, heat will flow between them until they come into equilibrium with each other. In this case there is energy transfer between these two blocks and heat flows from the hotter to the cooler block by this random vibrations. If a hotter block of metal is put in contact with a cooler block, the intensely oscillating atoms at the edge of the hotter block gives off its kinetic energy to the less oscillating atoms at the edge of the cool block. At low temperatures, the atoms continue to oscillate, but with less intensity. However, the transfer of energy as heat occurs at the molecular level as a result of a temperature difference.Ĭonsider a block of metal at high temperature, that consists of atoms that are oscillating intensely around their average positions. Heat is a form of energy, but it is energy in transit. While internal energy refers to the total energy of all the molecules within the object, heat is the amount of energy flowing from one body to another spontaneously due to their temperature difference.
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