Thermal Equilibrium

Baby, It's Cold Outside

What's say you and I reach thermal equilibrium with each other?

Thermal Radiation

When people sit in front of a heater or a fire, the heat that is radiating from that source is transferred to the people sitting in front of it. Heat transfer from thermal radiation is also the same as basking in the sun, or even standing next to someone. In this case, one object is at a higher temperature and so it is transferring heat to the object with a lower temperature, even though they are not in contact with each other.

people in front of fireplace

https://giphy.com/gifs/fire-warm-winterwarmer-iDaTpndUm74g0nqbJC

two people
holding hands
https://metro.co.uk/2020/02/12/stop-kissing-holding-hands-fight-coronavirus-says-professor-12227761/

Conduction Heat Transfer

On the other hand, conduction heat transfer is when the objects are touching each other. Conduction is the transfer of heat energy through collisions between molecules that are next to each other. The rate at which energy is transferred depends on the temperature difference between the two objects. If one object is significantly hotter than the other, then the rate of heat transfer via conduction is higher.

Reaching Thermal Equilibrium

When people are hugging or holding hands, the body heat from the person who is warmer is being transferred to the person who is colder through both thermal radiation and conduction.

After a while, the rate of heat transfer decreases until heat is no longer moving between the two objects. At this point, the two objects are considered to be in thermal equilibrium with each other.

conduction diagram
https://astro-asia.com/thermal-conduction.html

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Baby, It's Cold Outside What's say you and I reach thermal equilibrium with each other?
Thermal Radiation When people sit in front of a heater or a fire, the heat that is radiating from that source is transferred to the people sitting in front of it. Heat transfer from thermal radiation is also the same as basking in the sun, or even standing next to someone. In this case, one object is at a higher temperature and so it is transferring heat to the object with a lower temperature, even though they are not in contact with each other.	https://giphy.com/gifs/fire-warm-winterwarmer-iDaTpndUm74g0nqbJC

https://metro.co.uk/2020/02/12/stop-kissing-holding-hands-fight-coronavirus-says-professor-12227761/	Conduction Heat Transfer On the other hand, conduction heat transfer is when the objects are touching each other. Conduction is the transfer of heat energy through collisions between molecules that are next to each other. The rate at which energy is transferred depends on the temperature difference between the two objects. If one object is significantly hotter than the other, then the rate of heat transfer via conduction is higher.

Reaching Thermal Equilibrium When people are hugging or holding hands, the body heat from the person who is warmer is being transferred to the person who is colder through both thermal radiation and conduction. After a while, the rate of heat transfer decreases until heat is no longer moving between the two objects. At this point, the two objects are considered to be in thermal equilibrium with each other.	https://astro-asia.com/thermal-conduction.html
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