It is one of the most common things in our daily lives, but they are not the same. There is a fundamental difference between Heat & Temperature.  Let's discuss that in today's article.
  • Temperature - The temperature of a thing is the average kinetic energy (energy in motion) of its vibrating molecules. So, if you go to the molecular and atomic level, you can see that the molecules are vibrating. Some are vibrating fast (when you increase the temperature), and some are vibrating slowly (when you decrease the temperature). So, when you put a Thermometer in it, it measures the vibration in that thing and gives you a reading which is temperature.
              So, that means a single molecule doesn't have any temperature.

          Yes, you heard that right. Some molecules are vibrating fast, and some are vibrating slowly. Temperature is the average of that.

           Here is an example. Suppose you put water at room temperature. As expected when you see those water molecules in a microscope some are vibrating fast and some are vibrating slowly. Some are vibrating fast enough (which are at the top) that they escape. Yes, guess what !! That is evaporation. So, you don't have to reach 'Boiling Point' to evaporate.


  • Heat - The heat is the total sum of all the kinetic energy (sum of all vibrating molecules)  in that substance. So, you go to that molecular level again, measure the kinetic energy of one molecule, note that number, go to the next molecule, and do the same thing again and again for every molecule of that thing. The total sum you got, is the heat of the thing.

So, when you drink a cup of tea in the morning, it is hotter, which means it has more temperature than the ocean, but the ocean has more heat, because of the total number of molecules it has.

So, that's the basic difference between heat and temperature in a nutshell. Hope you like it. Leave a comment if you learn something new today. Till then, signing off...