What is the difference between thermal energy and heat?

Heat and thermal energy,earlier, used to be considered as synonyms. But they differ as follows: Heat is the thermal energy transferred across a boundary of one region of matter to another. As a process variable, heat is a characteristic of a process, not a property of the system. read more

The thermal energy is stored in the form of a part of internal energy in an object and the thermal energy is transferred in the form of heat energy or heat. Thermal energy is not itself a part of internal energy,when it is converted into heat due to temperature difference it is considered as a part of internal energy. read more

• Thermal energy is the total internal energy of a system while heat is energy in transit. • Thus, heat is the energy being transferred from a hotter body to a colder body in contact until both achieve equilibrium. read more

The difference between temperature and thermal energy is that temperature measures the average kinetic speed of molecules and thermal energy is the total kinetic energy of all particles in a given substance. In other words, temperature measures the average speed of movement, and thermal energy measures the mass of a substance. read more