Heat, which is the exchange of energy between a system and its surroundings, occurs in three major ways: conduction, convection and radiation.
Conduction is heat transfer through touch (physical contact between molecules). The hotter molecules are, the faster they move around and transfer their energy to other molecules. Convection is heat transfer through fluid flow, like when hot water is poured over ice or when cool air is blown over your warm soup. Radiation occurs when an object releases heat in the form of electromagnetic rays.
An object’s heat capacity describes the amount of heat required to change the temperature of that object by a certain amount. Specific heat is the amount of heat required to change the temperature of a substance by one degree (generally °C).
Liquids absorb heat in different ways. The temperature change in a particular liquid heated by conduction may not be the same trend of temperature change for the same liquid heated by radiation.