I have recently been in an ongoing discussion with some members of the forum about energy transfer...movement from warm to cool..etc. It doesn't take long for the conversation to move from one of evidence to one of what science "knows".
Good question don't you think....what does science know.
Heat, I would guess is the cornerstone of the global warming, AGW discussion. So lets look at that cornerstone and ask "What is heat?" Is heat a form of energy, or is heat the fingerprint, or signature of energy moving from one place to another?
What does science say?
Science Daily says: Heat
In physics, heat is a form of energy associated with the motion of atoms, molecules and other particles which comprise matter
So heat is a form of energy.
The physics department at the University of Maryland says: http://www.physics.umd.edu/courses/Phys260/agashe/S10/notes/lecture11.pdf
Heat: energy transferred between system and environment; heat is not a form of energy or state variable; heat can cause thermal energy to change
So heat is not a form of energy.
The Physics Classroom says: What is Heat
Heat is a form of energy that can be transferred from one object to another or even created at the expense of the loss of other forms of energy.
So heat is a form of energy.
The Grandinetti Laboratory Teachers Reference on Thermodynamics says:
Thermodynamics
Just like work, Heat is not a form of energy, but rather, is an energy transfer process.
So heat is not a form of energy.
The Chemistry Department at the University of Arizona says:
Energy Work and Heat The first Law
One of the great breakthroughs in the history of science was the recognition that heat is a form of energy.
So heat is a form of energy.
The Lecture Exchange - Physics for Scientists and engineers says:
http://lectureexchange.com/wp-conte...hysics-for-Scientist-and-Engineers_Serway.pdf
Heat Is Not a Form of Energy. The word heat is one of the most misused words in our popular lan- gauge.So heat is not a form of energy.
Hands on Physics says: Heat and Temperature- Concepts
Heat is a form of energy, so it has the units of energy
So heat is not a form of energy.
The Factmonster says: HEAT FactMonster.com
Heat is a form of energy
So heat is a form of energy.
And I could go on at some length providing credible scientific sources claiming that heat is a form of energy and that heat is not a form of energy. Here we stand, nearing the end of the 14th year of the 21st century and science remains unsure of what, precisely, heat is.
For all of you out there who believe that science somehow knows all...knows what photons are doing, or even knows whether photons exist or not...or knows that at the microscopic level that energy transfers between objects in two directions even though it has never been observed out here in the real world...or believes that science knows whether light is a wave, or particles, or either...or any of the literally hundreds of things that people here have claimed that science knows rather than science thinks, or science believes...or science theorizes or science hypothesizes...consider the fact that today, science doesn't even know what heat is.
Any of you geniuses out there want to say what heat is? Clearly science doesn't know....and if science does't know what something as basic and fundamental as heat is, what else doesn't science know?
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Is heat energy?
The distinction is semantic. Heat is a tactile sense of temperature differences.
The physics is always the same.
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Heat IS energy -- measured in Joules or the equivalent. And it is based on both stored and kinetic components. Go ask Obama for a definition of kinetic actions. It means dropping bombs and firing weapons. Stay away from any kinetic actions that involve heat. Just tied up Henry's heat definition nicely here.
Important part here for the topic is that materials lose or gain heat by conduction, convection or photon radiation.. Like they say on the Sesame Street -- "Two of things are not like the other"...
I stand (slightly) corrected. To quote from the basic reference on my desk: 'Fundamental Formulas of Physics; Edited by Donald H Manzel' pg. 292...
"The heat energy E of a molecule is defined to be the energy 1/2mC**2 of its random translatory energy, together with any additional energy, either rotational or internal, which is communicable from one molecule to another on encounter; for example, this would not include any rotary energy of a smooth, rigid, elastic spherical molecule ..It's value at r, t is denoted by E. Naturally E is a function of the temperature T."
So from a classical physics stand point. 'Heat' is one form of energy., and is basically temperature which is communicable in a specific way. Kind of like herpes..
I liked my 'tactile sense' definition better, but the equations are the equations.