What is Thermal energy: Definition and 205 Discussions

The term 'thermal energy' is used differently, and often loosely, in different contexts. It refers to several distinct physical concepts, such as the internal energy, or as the enthalpy, of a body of matter and radiation; or as heat, defined as a type of energy transfer (as is thermodynamic work); or as the characteristic energy of a degree of freedom,




k


B



T


{\displaystyle k_{\mathrm {B} }T}
, in a system that is described in terms of its microscopic particulate constituents, where



T


{\displaystyle T}
denotes temperature and




k


B





{\displaystyle k_{\mathrm {B} }}
denotes the Boltzmann constant.

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