Heat Transfer

• How does the energy move from a hotter to

a colder object?
• Three mechanisms
• Conduction
• Convection
• Radiation
 Conduction
• Stir your hot soup with a metal spoon
• Pretty soon you need a pot holder because
the end of the spoon you are holding gets
hot
• This is heat transfer by conduction
• Energy travels up the spoon from the end in
the hot soup to the end in your hand
 Conduction
• We sense the movement of energy by the
increasing temperature
• This means the atoms and molecules have
higher average kinetic energy
• Primarily occurs by the movement of electrons
in the material
• The more easily the electrons can move, the
better the conduction
 Conduction
• Metals have some electrons that are very
loosely bound to the atoms in the material
• These electrons can move easily and can
rapidly pick up additional kinetic energy
• Metals are good conductors
• Wood and plastic don’t have loosely bound
electrons, so they are poor conductors
Conduction
 Conduction
• Air is a poor thermal conductor
• If you stand in the sun on a cold winter day
and are shielded from the wind, you stay
pretty warm
• Snow is a poor conductor, while water is
better
• Makes igloos a useful as a house
 Convection
• A phenomenon in fluids
• Instead of having energy moved by
successive collisions of electrons, atoms
and molecules, the fluid itself is set into
motion called a current
• These moving fluid currents are convection
Convection
 Convection
• When the radiator heats the air, it becomes less
dense and rises
• Cool air moves in to replace the air that rose
• This generates the air flow
• So radiators don’t need a fan to stir the air and
to distribute heat throughout a room
• The rising air cools until its density matches
that of the surrounding air
 Convection
• We take advantage of the cooling that
occurs during an expansion
• We make refrigerators and air conditioners
operate by forcing gas under pressure
through a small hole and expanding it into
an empty space
 Convection
• Explains why breezes come from the ocean
in the day and from the land at night
 Radiation
• Energy carried by electromagnetic waves
• Study waves later in detail
• Light, microwaves, radio waves, x-rays
• Wavelength is related to vibration
frequency
 Radiation
average frequency ∝ absolute temperature
 Radiation
• Every object is emitting electromagnetic
waves regardless of temperature
• Things we can see from their own radiation
are very hot to have energy emitted in the
visible region of the spectrum
• Most things emit primarily in the infrared
• Night vision goggles, etc.
 Radiation
• Things also absorb radiation
• If they didn’t, they would run out of energy to
emit
• Good emitters are also good absorbers
• Equilibrium established between emission and
absorption
• When something can’t equilibrate, it gets hotter
or colder
 Radiation
• Interior of a car on a sunny day
• Sunlight comes in as visible light
• Seats and interior are much cooler so they
radiate in the infrared instead of visible
• Glass in the windows blocks infrared so
energy can’t get out
• Car interior heats up!
 Radiation
• A good absorber reflects very little energy
• Think about dark pavement
• A poor absorber reflects a lot of energy
• Think about snow that doesn’t melt in
sunshine even though 1400 watts/meter 2 are
hitting it
 Radiation
• At night, objects receive no input energy
from the sun
• But, they are warmer than outer space, so
they continue to radiate energy
• Thus, they cool off
• Can we make ice in the desert without a
refrigerator?
 Newton’s Law of Cooling
• Rate of cooling of an object is proportional
to the temperature difference between an
object and its surroundings
• Works both ways, cooling and heating
• Rate of heating also depends on the
temperature difference