What is the difference between temperature and heat energy?
When you touch a hot cup of cocoa, the heat energy of the cup flows into your hand, because the cup has a higher temperature than your hand. You feel the heat, or energy flow from hot to cold. Heat is the thermal energy that is transferred from one body to another and it always flows from a substance at a higher temperature into the substance with a lower temperature. Heat energy is useful for doing many kinds of work. In many situations, part of heat energy is used to do work or it is converted to another form of energy: • a flame provides energy to break chemical bonds when ice changes to water or water changes to steam • burning gasoline causes pistons to move in your car that force the car to move, • burning coal boils water to create steam that will make electrical generators run to light and heat/cool our homes Adding heat energy to a system DOES NOT mean that its temperature must increase. Often, part of the heat energy is converted to another kind of energy (electrical, wind, w
