When I feel heat on my hand, what exactly is it I am feeling? Is there is a “large” amount of certain particle hitting my hand at the same time so it causes a burn? Is it a wave? Is heat just radiation? If so, why do we call it heat?
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“Heat” is a way of referring to how much energy something has. When something has more energy, that energy “wants” to go to anywhere that has less energy in it, in a manner similar to how water in two tanks connected by a pipe will seek the same level, even if one starts off with a much higher level.
When there’s more energy in one place and less energy in another- like, for example, a stove with a burner set to high and the air above it- the energy will move from one to the other- the burner loses a tiny bit of heat, the air gets some of that heat, which in turn heats up the air next to it, and continues to expand toward the areas with less heat- less energy.
As long as the burner is powered, it’s constantly replenishing that heat, which continues to radiate out to other materials touching it or near it- whether that’s air, a pan with food in it, or your hand.
When you feel “heat” in your hand, what you’re detecting is that the air around your hand has more thermal energy in it, so some of that energy is going from the air to your hand. That raises the temperature of your skin a bit, which your senses detect as “heat”.
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