Chapter 5

Thermal Physics

In this chapter we will discuss heat and temperature, concepts that seem familiar
from our everyday experience. The SAT Physics Subject Test expects you to know
things about heat and temperature that go beyond what you see around you every
day. In physics, heat is defined as thermal energy that’s transmitted from one body
to another. While an object is capable of containing thermal energy (due to the
random motion of its molecules), it doesn’t contain heat; heat is energy that’s in
transit. Temperature, on the other hand, is a measure of the concentration of an
object’s internal thermal energy and is represented by one of the basic SI units.