Cooking with Conduction Conduction - According to the American Heritage Dictionary, "conduction is the transmission through a medium or passage, esp. the transmission of electric charge or heat." An example of conduction used for cooking is a stove. A stove generates heat, but it was originally designed specifically to cook food. A stove consists of heating units called elements. According to the Yummy Physics website, "elements are composed of flat, coiled metal tubes that are made of nichrome - alloy resistance wires sealed inside stainless steel sheaths. When a coil turns red (as seen in the picture below), it shows that an electric current has passed through the wires and has generated heat that radiates out of the element. http://www.geocities.com/yummyphysics/conduction.html Glasstop and ceramic stoves heat in the same fassion except the elements are covered by glass or ceramic serfaces.