The concept of ‘heat’ in physical geography

Abstract

ABSTRACTMany introductory physical geography textbooks use the term ‘heat’ in ways that reflect usage of the word in physics and chemistry textbooks prior to the late 1960s. It is now generally accepted by the physics and chemistry communities that heat is energy that is transferred between a system and its environment as a consequence of a temperature difference across a system boundary. Once the energy transfer is accomplished, the energy is no longer heat. Therefore heat cannot be stored. Although the greenhouse effect results in heat transfer through radiation, it is incorrect to state that heat is trapped, stored, contained or held in the atmosphere.