In thermodynamics, heat is energy in transfer to or from a thermodynamic system, by

mechanisms other than thermodynamic work or transfer of matter.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] The

mechanisms include conduction, through direct contact of immobile bodies, or through a wall
or barrier that is impermeable to matter; or radiation between separated bodies; or isochoric
mechanical work done by the surroundings on the system of interest; or Joule heating by an
electric current driven through the system of interest by an external system; or a combination
of these. When there is a suitable path between two systems with different temperatures, heat
transfer occurs necessarily, immediately, and spontaneously from the hotter to the colder
system. Thermal conduction occurs by the stochastic (random) motion of microscopic
particles (such as atoms or molecules). In contrast, thermodynamic work is defined by
mechanisms that act macroscopically and directly on the system's whole-body state variables;
for example, change of the system's volume through a piston's motion with externally
measurable force; or change of the system's internal electric polarization through an
externally measurable change in electric field. The definition of heat transfer does not require
that the process be in any sense smooth. For example, a bolt of lightning may transfer heat to
a body.

Convective circulation allows one body to heat another, through an intermediate circulating
fluid that carries energy from a boundary of one to a boundary of the other; the actual heat
transfer is by conduction and radiation between the fluid and the respective bodies.[8][9][10]
Natural convection, though spontaneous, does not occur merely because of temperature
difference but due to Rayleigh instability caused by combination of gravity and thermal
expansion in supplement to sufficient temperature gradient.

Like thermodynamic work, heat transfer is a process involving two systems, not a property of
any one system. In thermodynamics, energy transferred as heat (a process function)
contributes to change in the system's cardinal energy variable of state, for example its internal
energy, or for example its enthalpy. This is to be distinguished from the ordinary language
conception of heat as a property of the system.

Although heat flows spontaneously from a hotter body to a cooler one, it is possible to
construct a heat pump which expends work to transfer energy from a colder body to a hotter
body. In contrast, a heat engine reduces an existing temperature difference to supply work to
another system. Another thermodynamic type of heat transfer device is an active heat
spreader, which expends work to speed up transfer of energy to colder surroundings from a
hotter body, for example a computer component.[11]

The amount of heat transferred in any process can be defined as the total amount of
transferred energy excluding any macroscopic work that was done and any energy contained
in matter transferred. For the precise definition of heat, it is necessary that it occur by a path
that does not include transfer of matter.[12] As an amount of energy (being transferred), the SI
unit of heat is the joule (J). The conventional symbol used to represent the amount of heat
transferred in a thermodynamic process is Q. Heat is measured by its effect on the states of
interacting bodies, for example, by the amount of ice melted or a change in temperature.[13]
The quantification of heat via the temperature change of a body is called calorimetry.
As a form of energy, heat has the unit joule (J) in the International System of Units (SI).
However, in many applied fields in engineering the British thermal unit (BTU) and the
calorie are often used. The standard unit for the rate of heat transferred is the watt (W),
defined as one joule per second.

Use of the symbol Q for the total amount of energy transferred as heat is due to Rudolf
Clausius in 1850:

"Let the amount of heat which must be imparted during the transition of the gas in a
definite manner from any given state to another, in which its volume is v and its
temperature t, be called Q"[14]

Heat released by a system into its surroundings is by convention a negative quantity (Q < 0);
when a system absorbs heat from its surroundings, it is positive (Q > 0). Heat transfer rate, or

heat flow per unit time, is denoted by . This should not be confused with a time
derivative of a function of state (which can also be written with the dot notation) since heat is
not a function of state.[15] Heat flux is defined as rate of heat transfer per unit cross-sectional
area (units watts per square metre).