How does a heat pump operate?

A heat pump operates by moving heat from one location to another, which is the correct answer. The principle behind heat pumps is based on thermodynamics, specifically the refrigeration cycle. A heat pump can either absorb heat from the outside environment and transfer it into a building for heating or extract heat from the building and expel it outside for cooling.

In the heating mode, the heat pump extracts heat from the outside air, ground, or water and moves it indoors. In cooling mode, it reverses the process, removing heat from the indoor air and discharging it outside. This makes it a versatile system that can provide both heating and cooling by transferring heat rather than generating it from scratch.

The other choices describe processes that do not accurately capture how heat pumps function. For example, generating heat from electricity implies a resistance heating method, where electrical energy is directly converted to heat, which is different from heat transfer mechanisms used in heat pumps. Creating cool air from water suggests a cooling process that lacks the essential heat movement aspect of a heat pump. Absorbing heat from the ground refers to ground-source heat pumps specifically, which operate similarly to air-source heat pumps but are not the complete definition of how all heat pumps work. Thus, focusing on the core functionality