How does Heat Transfer Works

I chose the topic of heat transfer because I find it really intriguing to learn about. I wanted to look further into how heat from two substances reacts with one another through another material that was placed between them. I will be looking at how to calculate the rate of heat transfer in a one dimensional space. This means that I will only be focusing on two temperatures, one hot and one cold, and a medium of which the heat will pass through. External factors such as other temperatures and time will not be used as they are for three dimensional spaces.

Heat is a type of energy that transfers between two pieces of matter that have different temperatures. There are three ways heat can be transferred. The first way is through radiation and the second is convection. The third way is through conduction which is when an object or material conducts the heat from one substance through itself and to another. This is the method I will be focusing on.

As stated in the second law of thermodynamics, heat flows from the matter or objects with the higher temperature to the one containing lower temperature and is not possible from cold to hot. This will continue until both objects have reached a thermal equilibrium. At this point, one object does not contain a higher temperature than the other, so the heat transfer ends. The rate at which the heat is transferred depends on the composition of the material that separates the two temperatures. For example, the rate at which heat flows from hot water to cold water through a copper cup will be different than if the cup is porcelain.

The rate that the heat energy is transferred is directly proportionate to the rate at which the temperature changes. Also, since the lower temperature is gaining ...

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...make the equations work and come up with an appropriate answer. From these equations, other ones can be created to solve many other problems on heat transfer. Anywhere that temperature exists, there is some sort of heat transfer happening. By predicting, analysing, and testing any equation in thermodynamics, we can learn how to conserve heat and energy for when we actually do need it.

Bibliography

Kreith, Frank, and Mark S. Bohn. Principles of Heat Transfer, 6th ed. New York: Brooks/Cole, 2001

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “16.4 Thermal Resistance Circuits.”, http://web.mit.edu/16.unified/www/FALL/thermodynamics/notes/node118.html

The Physics Classroom. “Rates of Heat Transfer.”, http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/thermalP/u18l1f.cfm