Lesson 4 Thermal Energy
Introduction
How does thermal energy work?
© By Flanker, penubag (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons
D4.1 Phase changes
D4.1 Phase changes
In this lesson, we will study thermal energy in more detail. Remember, thermal energy is the same as the kinetic energy of the particles in a substance. The more movement a particle has (kinetic energy), the warmer the substance is and the more thermal energy it has.
This lesson will take your knowledge one step further and talk about how different substances absorb and emit thermal energy at different rates. It will discuss the effects of this uneven absorption and teach you the calculations so you can determine yourself how a substance absorbs thermal energy.
Finally, this lesson will look at the different phase changes and how those processes transfer thermal energy through the water cycle.
This lesson will take your knowledge one step further and talk about how different substances absorb and emit thermal energy at different rates. It will discuss the effects of this uneven absorption and teach you the calculations so you can determine yourself how a substance absorbs thermal energy.
Finally, this lesson will look at the different phase changes and how those processes transfer thermal energy through the water cycle.
Targets
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to- describe how differences in the absorption of thermal energy by different substances can lead to uneven heating and cooling
- explain how different phase changes, specifically in water, transfer thermal energy
- complete calculations to visualize this transfer using «math xmlns=¨http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML¨» «msub» «mi»H«/mi» «mrow» «mi»f«/mi» «mi»u«/mi» «mi»s«/mi» «/mrow» «/msub» «mo»=«/mo» «mfrac» «mi»Q«/mi» «mi»n«/mi» «/mfrac» «mo»,«/mo» «mo»§#160;«/mo» «msub» «mi»H«/mi» «mrow» «mi»v«/mi» «mi»a«/mi» «mi»p«/mi» «/mrow» «/msub» «mo»=«/mo» «mfrac» «mi»Q«/mi» «mi»n«/mi» «/mfrac» «/math», and Q = mcΔt
Watch This
Heat Exchange © YouTube Bozeman Science
This video will give you a great review of how thermal energy is transferred and will introduce you to the idea of a substance’s specific heat capacity, which we will learn more about in this lesson. Please note that a temperature unit called “Kelvins” is used in this video rather than degrees Celsius.