Question

Temperature and heat are related concepts, but they don't mean exactly the same thing. Here's an example: you have two beakers containing water at the exact same temperature, 80°C. Beaker 1 has twice as much water as Beaker 2. Your teacher tells you that even though they have the same temperature, one has more heat energy than the other. a) Which beaker do you think has more heat energy? b) Why?

Answer 1

Beaker 1, which holds twice as much water as Beaker 2, has more heat energy because heat is dependent on the quantity of a substance, not just its temperature.

Step-by-step explanation:

The student question revolves around the difference between temperature and heat energy and why two beakers of water at the same temperature might have different amounts of heat energy. To answer the student's questions:

• a) Beaker 1, which has twice as much water as Beaker 2, has more heat energy.
• b) This is because heat is an extensive property, meaning it depends on the amount of substance present. Although both beakers have water at the same temperature (indicative of the average kinetic energy of the particles), Beaker 1 contains a greater quantity of water and therefore more total heat energy.

Heat is the flow of thermal energy, whereas temperature is a measure of the average kinetic energy of particles within a substance. With a greater volume of water, Beaker 1 holds more overall thermal energy despite both samples being at 80°C.