HEAT TRANSFER:CONDUCTION, CONVECTION AND RADIATION

HEAT TRANSFER: CONDUCTION

OBJECTIVES
• Describe what conduction is and how heat is transfer
in solids.
• Explain why some materials feel warmer than others.
• Differentiate between conductor and insulator
KEYWORDS
Thermal energy, conductors, insulators, warm cold,
particles.
HEAT TRANSFER
The three modes of heat transfer base on the different
materials that are subjected to heat are: conduction
convection and radiation.
CONDUCTION AND PARTICLES
When solid (metals) are heated, their particles at the point
of heating vibrates more than other particles at
other parts of the metal. The parts with more vibrations are
felt as hot while other parts with less vibrations are felt as
cold. If the heating continues, the vibration will continue
and spread to other parts of the metal. Hence thermal
energy transfer.

A metal spoon feel cold while a plastic spoon of the same

temperature feels warm when touched. This is because
thermal energy is transferred more quickly from our hands
CONDUCTION
to the metallic parts than to the plastic spoon.
Conduction is the mode of heat transfer that takes place
CONDUCTORS : These are materials that easily carry heat or
in solid through direct contact by the vibration of the
electric current.. Glass and metals are good conductors of
particles of the solid about its main/fixed position.
heat.
All materials do not conduct heat energy equally. The
INSULATORS : These are materials that are poor carriers of
energy is transfers from an area of higher temperature to
heat or electric current. Examples of insulators are wood,
an area of lower temperature.
wool, paper, cloth, plastic, rubber.
 HEAT TRANSFER: CONVECTION
OBJECTIVES
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
❖ Describe what happens in convection.
❖Explain how convection currents are formed
KEYWORDS
Convection, Current, Land breeze, Sea breeze
Transfer.
CONVECTION
Convection is the flow of thermal energy (heat) through a
fluid from places of higher temperature to places of lower of the fluid.
temperature by the actual movement of heated fluid
bulks.
In convection particles with higher energy move from one
location to another carrying their energy with them. That
is heat transfer occurs when particles with higher energy
move from warmer to cooler parts of the fluid.
Heat from the pan is transferred by conduction to the
water at the base of the pan, and the process of
convection takes some few steps:
Water molecules/particles close to the base of the pan gets
warmer (more energy, moves faster and more apart) as
water above are cooler with less energy.
❖ The less dense energetic warm water rises as the dense
cool water drops to take its place.
❖ The warm water at the base becomes less dense.
This process continues causing a circulation called
convection current . It happens in liquids and gases (fluids).
Convection current occurs because there is uneven heating
CONVECTION IN THE ATMOSPHRE
On a hot day, the Sun heats the land during the day more
quickly than the water. This makes the air on land (above
the ground) to get hotter and move upwards. Cooler air
from (above) the sea moves to replace the hot air on land.
This is called sea-breeze.
At night, the land cools quickly but the sea doesn’t. this
leads to a reverse of what happened during the day as cool
air from land blows back to the sea ( land-breeze).
HEAT TRANSFER: CONVECTION

RADIATION
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
❖ Describe what radiation is.
❖Describe how a body can reflect or absorb
radiation.
❖State some source of infrared radiation, and the
similarities between light and infrared
KEYWORDS
Radiation, emit, Absorb, Spectrum, reflect,
electromagnet.
 HEAT TRANSFER: RADIATION
RADIATION
Radiation is the transfer of thermal energy through
space (Vacuum) without any material. There is no
collision or movement of particles as it is in
conduction and convection because it does not
require any material medium. This radiated energy
warms an object when it is absorbed. Radiant heat
energy moves from an area of higher temperature to
an area of cooler temperature.
Every object emit radiation regardless of its
temperature. The intensity of the radiation emitted
by an object depends on its temperature.
REFLECTING AND ABSORBING RADIATION
Our bodies can absorb and emit thermal radiations.
Radiation can pass through solid, liquid, and gas.
The color and texture of an object affects its ability
to emit or absorb thermal energy by radiation.
The best emitters and absorbers of radiation are dull
surface, black surface, and larger surface area. Black
cloths for example makes one sweat more when
under the sun.
The worst emitters and absorbers of radiation are:
shiny surface, white surface, and small surface area.
Shiny, white or silver surfaces reflect radiation away.
ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM
The electromagnetic spectrum is a set of radiation
that are emitted by our sun. The spectrum consists
of the following waves: Radio wave – microwave –
infrared – visible light – ultraviolet – x-rays –
Gamma rays
All the waves travel with the same speed and have
different wavelengths, frequencies and energies.
These waves are arranged in order of decreasing
wavelength and increasing frequency. Radio waves
have the longest wavelength, lowest frequency and
energy as Gamma rays, shortest wavelength, highest
frequency and energy.
Visible light can be split into different components
(ROYGBIV). These are
Red-Orange-Yellow-Green-Blue-Indigo-Violet.