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Fast Facts
temperature
physics
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Top Questions
What is temperature?
When is air temperature the highest?
Why is air temperature lower at night?
Why does temperature decrease with higher altitude?
When do temperature inversions occur?
temperature, measure of hotness or coldness expressed in terms of any of several arbitrary scales and indicating the direction in which heat energy will spontaneously flow—i.e., from a hotter body (one at a higher temperature) to a colder body (one at a lower temperature). Temperature is not the equivalent of the energy of a thermodynamic system; e.g., a burning match is at a much higher temperature than an iceberg, but the total heat energy contained in an iceberg is much greater than the energy contained in a match. Temperature, similar to pressure or density, is called an intensive property—one that ...(100 of 291 words)