Energy Transfer Flashcards
What are the Basic Methods of Energy Transfer?
Conduction, Convection, and Radiation.
What is Conduction (Thermal)?
Thermal Conduction is the transfer of heat throughout an object, much like the way electricity travels through metal wires.
What is Convection?
The air above a fire is a great way to explain this:
The air above a fire becomes hot and it rises while expanding. As it rises, it becomes cooler and falls down again; so this process repeats. This only works if the substances is a liquid or a gas because the particles in a solid are not able to move this freely.
What is a Convection Current?
The vertical movement of air currents due to temperature variations.
What is Radiation?
Radiation is the energy that is transferred as electromagnetic waves, such as visible light and infrared. Radiation doesn’t rely on the movement of substances such as in Convection and Conduction, so it is the only form of energy transfer that can happen in space.
What is a Conductor?
Anything that conducts energy well. Such as metals and some liquids.
What is an Insulator?
Anything that resists energy transfer well. Such as gases, woods, rubber, etc.
What is Specific Heat?
Specific Heat describes how much energy is required to raise an object’s temperature. Metals only require a few joules to gain temperature but other things require a lot more.
What’s the Formula for Specific Heat?
Energy=(SpecificHeat)(Mass)(Temperature Changes), or, energy=cm^t
