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Thermal conduction is the diffusion of thermal energy (heat) within one material or between materials in contact. The higher temperature object has molecules with more kinetic energy; collisions between molecules distributes this kinetic energy until an object has the same kinetic energy throughout.
A 2008 review paper written by Philips researcher Clemens J. M. Lasance notes that: "Although there is an analogy between heat flow by conduction (Fourier's law) and the flow of an electric current (Ohm’s law), the corresponding physical properties of thermal conductivity and electrical conductivity conspire to make the behavior of heat flow ...
An example of steady state conduction is the heat flow through walls of a warm house on a cold day—inside the house is maintained at a high temperature and, outside, the temperature stays low, so the transfer of heat per unit time stays near a constant rate determined by the insulation in the wall and the spatial distribution of temperature ...
The exact mechanisms of thermal conduction are poorly understood in liquids: there is no molecular picture which is both simple and accurate. An example of a simple but very rough theory is that of Bridgman, in which a liquid is ascribed a local molecular structure similar to that of a solid, i.e. with molecules located approximately on a ...
[1] [2] [3] For example, if a 1 m 3 solid cube of material has sheet contacts on two opposite faces, and the resistance between these contacts is 1 Ω, then the resistivity of the material is 1 Ω⋅m. Electrical conductivity (or specific conductance) is the reciprocal of electrical resistivity. It represents a material's ability to conduct ...
In fact, it is (loosely speaking) the simplest differential operator which has these symmetries. This can be taken as a significant (and purely mathematical) justification of the use of the Laplacian and of the heat equation in modeling any physical phenomena which are homogeneous and isotropic, of which heat diffusion is a principal example.
An example is this 1720 quote from the English philosopher John Locke: Heat , is a very brisk agitation of the insensible parts of the object, which produces in us that sensation from whence we denominate the object hot ; so what in our sensation is heat , in the object is nothing but motion .
Essentially what is occurring is a long chain of momentum transfer between mobile charge carriers; the Drude model of conduction describes this process more rigorously. This momentum transfer model makes metal an ideal choice for a conductor; metals, characteristically, possess a delocalized sea of electrons which gives the electrons enough ...