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Temperature – The Physics Hypertextbook

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Temperature is defined theoretically (it determines the direction of heat flow) and operationally (it's what a thermometer measures) and scales are compared.

Discussion theoretical definition One has to be careful when defining temperature not to confuse it with heat. Heat is a form of energy. Temperature is something different. We could begin with a technical definition, but I would prefer to start with a question. How hot is it? The answer to this question (or a question like this) is a measurement of temperature. The hotter something is, the higher its temperature. Therefore I would like to propose the following informal definition — temperature is a measure of hotness. Quantities in science are typically defined operationally (through the proce

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