When enegry is transfered from one object to another what must occur?

Answer 1

Anything could happen, physics is the real stuff, but kinetic and potential energy must be exchanged. I think its a muon exchange. A muon is a form of heavy electron. Objects don't really need to bond, such as in chemistry.



I don't dispute that, but here's my perspective, rather more basic:

I suspect this is a high school physics homework question... Under those circumstances, there's often very little context because you know so little they don't have to explain what they really mean.

However, energy takes many forms; heat, light, movement , altitude, electric charge, and others. Depending on which of these is being transferred, different things might happen. (e.g. the hot body gets colder and the cold body gets hotter, and there has to be a thermal path, convection, conduction, radiation, between the two)

However, one thing always happens, which is that energy is lost as entropy. I think that's the second law of thermodynamics at work.

My guess is that this is what the question is really about.

Answer 2

Energy transfer between objects must involve a mechanism or a pathway through which the energy can move, such as through heat, work, or electromagnetic radiation. Additionally, the total amount of energy in a closed system remains constant, following the principle of conservation of energy.