Internal Energy and Heat Transfer
Every object stores energy inside it — and that energy can move from place to place in three different ways.
Big Idea: Inside every body there is internal energy — the total energy of its countless tiny particles. You can change that internal energy in two ways: by doing work on the body, or by heat transfer. Heat itself travels in three modes: conduction, convection and radiation.
By the end of this topic you will be able to:
- say what internal energy is and what it depends on,
- name the two ways to change internal energy (work and heat transfer),
- explain conduction, convection and radiation,
- recognise each mode of heat transfer in everyday life,
- calculate the internal energy produced when motion stops.