How is heat produced?

Heat is made when things move and bump into each other.

Think about when you rub your hands together on a cold day, you feel warm. That’s because your skin is moving, and the little parts in your skin are bumping into each other. When they bump, they get excited and start to move faster, which we call heat.

Sometimes things don’t just rub together, sometimes you light a match or turn on a stove. The energy from the match or the stove gives the little parts in the wood or gas a push, and they start moving really fast too. This movement is what we feel as heat, like when you sit near a fire and your face gets warm.

So whether it’s your hands bumping together or a fire burning, heat is just the fun party that happens when things move and bump around!