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The Theory Of Heat : The Natural Sciences Span Over A Wide Range Of Phenomena

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atalie DiStefano

The Concept of Heat

The natural sciences span over a wide range of phenomena, from the theory of gravity acting on the earth, to specific functions within the cell. These two examples provide a general idea of the enormous extent of the natural sciences. Scientists have been allowed to research these phenomena due to underlying connections between subtopics.
In physics one can view many underlying connections between different subtopics. For example; in thermodynamics. Thermodynamics is a branch of physical science that deals with the relations between heat and other forms of energy such as mechanical, electrical or chemical energy. More importantly, heat itself and its relation to energy and work done on a system. Many …show more content…

One theory of heat is that the laws of physics only allow the energy transfer from hot temperatures to cold temperatures. This is displayed in the calorimeter experiment. A calorimeter is an apparatus used to measure the specific heat of several materials, it is designed so little heat is lost or gained to the surroundings. Imagine a copper ball that is heated in boiling water and dropped into a calorimeter that contains water at room temperature. The substances have entirely different initial temperatures. What will happen? The heat from the copper ball with distribute within the water causing them to begin to equalize in temperature. This is because the summation of all heat energy in a closed system is equal to zero therefore, the same amount of energy moves between the two systems during a thermal interaction causing them to be the same temperature. This displays thermal equilibrium in work. A system is said to be in thermal equilibrium if its state variables are constant and not changing. Therefore, when the hot copper ball is dropped in the room temperature water the temperatures of both interacting systems will become equal to each other in temperature if the molecules have enough time to interact. Thermal equilibrium is proven to be true when objects transfer heat. This is because the interacting molecules strive to have

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