Heat Transfer Mechanisms
Physics 212 Josh Kunz
 
   
  Conduction
 
 

Conduction of heat is essentially the transfer of heat from one object to another through physical contact.  This transfer occurs on the molecular level when heat is absorbed on the surface of one object and transferred to the other object.  The molecules in the first object move more quickly as the heat is absorbed. They then bump into their neighbors and pass that energy on.  This process continues until both objects reach equilibrium where both object’s temperatures are the same.




(<http://www.universetoday.com/82331/what-is-conduction/>.)


A lot of times the rate of heat transfer is needed to understand how well an insulator or conductor a material is.  This can be found using the equation and figure found below:




(<http://www.universetoday.com/82331/what-is-conduction/>.)


Q is the heat transferred in the time interval t, so Q/t is the rate of heat transfer.  K is the thermal conductivity of the material, A is the cross sectional area of the object, d is the length of the object, and the temperature difference between the two materials is (Thot-Tcold).




 
 
This site was designed in compliance to the UAF Physics 212 Section 007 website project.  04/19/2015  Josh Kunz