Heat

energy · temperature · physics

Heat is energy. Heat is a special kind of energy that moves from something hot to something cold. When you touch a warm cup of tea, heat flows from the cup into your hand, making your hand feel warmer.

Heat and temperature. Heat and temperature are different things. Temperature measures how fast the tiny bits inside something are wiggling around, while heat is the energy that moves between things because of that difference.

Cold is no heat. There's no such thing as actual coldness, cold things just have less heat energy than warm things. When cold air touches warm water, heat travels from the water to the air until they match up.

The sun shares heat. The sun sends heat all the way to Earth even though it's millions of miles away, traveling through empty space as light and energy. This heat warms our planet and makes life possible.

Heat does work. Heat can make things move and create power, like how a campfire's heat can warm a pot of water or how engines use heat from burning fuel to make cars run.