Question

The term heat in physics is

A. the same as work
B. equivalent to temperature.
C. energy transferred to a body because of a difference in temperature.
D. any energy transferred to a body that raises the temperature of the body.
E. equivalent to internal energy.

Answer 1

Tough question. I don't think we use heat to refer to a physics entity. But I do think we use it to describe a process.

It was once thought that "heat" was a thing that could be transferred from one object to another. We don't think that anymore. Rather, temperature is a little more abstract when you try to generalize it.

I don't know what this question's asking for, but it might be pulling from the first law of thermodynamics.

Answer 2

Heat is an energy transfer mechanism. As an energy transfer mechanism it has the same units as energy, i.e. joules. You can do work on a system with heat, but heat is not always the same as work. The units of heat and temperature are different, so they are not the same thing. Moreover, temperature is a scalar value whereas heat is a vector value. Not all energy transfer that raises temperature is heat transfer, and heat is not necessarily equal to internal energy. The only answer left is C, the correct answer.