Question

What is meant by the mechanical equivalent of heat?

Answer 1

Mechanical equivalent of heat:

1. The amount of work required to produce a unit of heat is called the mechanical equivalent of heat.
2. Throughout the case of the mechanical equivalent of heat, motion, and heat are completely interchangeable, and even a given amount of work will always produce the same quantity of heat, supplied the work is completely transformed to heat energy.

Mathematically, the mechanical equivalent of heat can be represented as:

$\mathrm{J}=\frac{\mathrm{W}}{\mathrm{Q}}$

Here,

W is the amount of work expended in the production of heat.

Q is the amount of heat.