What is Thermal energy?

Thermal energy is the heat that makes things feel warm or cool.

Imagine you're holding a cup of hot chocolate on a cold day, that’s thermal energy at work! The drink feels warm because it has lots of thermal energy, and as you sip it, some of that heat moves into your hands. Now think about ice cream melting in your hand, that’s the opposite: the ice cream is losing thermal energy to your warmer hand.

Thermal energy can move from one place to another. If you put a spoon in hot soup, the spoon gets warm too, thermal energy travels from the soup to the spoon. This is like when you sit next to someone who’s wearing a big cozy sweater on a chilly day, their thermal energy makes you feel warmer.

Different things can hold more or less thermal energy. A big pot of boiling water has lots of it, while a small ice cube has very little. When something is hot, it means it’s holding a lot of thermal energy, and when it's cold, it holds just a little, like how you feel when you jump into a pool on a sunny day!