Temperature, heat, thermoneutral zone and interthreshold zone

Vivian Imbriotis | July 29, 2026

Temperature is the mean kinetic energy of particles in a system.

Heat is the quantity of energy that will move from one system to another because of a temperature gradient.

Latent heat is the transfer of heat without a change in temperature (e.g. because the energy is consumed by a phase transition)

Specific heat capacity is the amount of heat required to raise a unit mass of substance by a unit temperature (e.g. joules per kelvin per kilogram)

Thermoneutral zone is the range of ambient temperature where the body does not need to shiver or sweat to maintain core temperature (~28-32C if nude)

Interthreshold zone is the range of core temperatures between the onset of shivering and sweating (36.5-37.5C).