How Heat is Transfered to the Atmosphere

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Physics textbooks define heat as the transfer of energy between a system and environment as consequences of different temperatures between them. Heat can be classified into three different types, which are latent heat, specific heat and sensible heat. These three different types of heat energy can be transferred in various ways such as through conduction, convection and radiation. The transfer of heat energy is important as it ensures that proper distribution occurs.
Latent heat is defined as the heat energy expended in changing the state of a body without raising its temperature, expressed in calories per gram (a modern dictionary of geography pg 149). Latent heat is important in maintaining and accelerating rising air currents of air in the earth’s atmosphere such as in cyclones. Cyclones develop due to heat and moisture and are sustained by the release of latent heat. Specific heat refers to the amount of heat necessary to raise the temperature of 1 gram of a substance one degree Celsius. Sensible heat is the heat acquired by transfer from an object of higher temperature.
These various types of heat energy can be transferred in different forms such as conduction, convection and radiation. Conduction is the transfer of heat from one molecule to another within a substance. How fast this heat moves depends on the whether the material is a good conductor or not. Air is a poor conductor of heat so any form of heat transfer using conduction it is done near the earth’s surface. When heat is added to the molecule it starts to vibrate faster as this occurs temperatures rise and the molecules hit neighboring molecules hence transferring heat to cooler neighboring molecules.

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