Temperature and heat

  Temperature and heat are not the same, although both are linked with thermal energy.
The temperature of an object tells us with how hot or cold it is. It is measured in degrees Celsius. The unit of temperature is written as ^oC.

A thermometer is used to measure the temperature of an object

The heat an object contains is the amount of its thermal energy, measured in joules or J. Let's look at two examples to see the difference between temperature and heat.

A swimming pool at 30°C is at a lower temperature than a cup of tea at 80°C. But, the swimming pool contains more water, so it stores more thermal energy or heat than the cup of tea.

To boil water, we must increase its temperature to 100°C. It takes longer to boil a large beaker of water than to boil a small beaker of water, because the large beaker contains more water and needs more thermal energy or heat to reach 100°C.