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After heating has stopped, mixing and conduction from this natural convection eventually result in a nearly homogeneous density, and even temperature. Without the presence of gravity (or conditions that cause a g-force of any type), natural convection does not occur, and only forced-convection modes operate. [citation needed]
Thermal insulators are materials specifically designed to reduce the flow of heat by limiting conduction, convection, or both. Thermal resistance is a heat property and the measurement by which an object or material resists to heat flow (heat per time unit or thermal resistance) to temperature difference.
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.
Convection, especially Rayleigh–Bénard convection, where the convecting fluid is contained by two rigid horizontal plates, is a convenient example of a pattern-forming system. When heat is fed into the system from one direction (usually below), at small values it merely diffuses ( conducts ) from below upward, without causing fluid flow.
Mixtures may have variable thermal conductivities due to composition. Note that for gases in usual conditions, heat transfer by advection (caused by convection or turbulence for instance) is the dominant mechanism compared to conduction. This table shows thermal conductivity in SI units of watts per metre-kelvin (W·m −1 ·K −1).
Forced convection is a mechanism, or type of transport, in which fluid motion is generated by an external source (like a pump, fan, suction device, etc.). Alongside natural convection, thermal radiation, and thermal conduction it is one of the methods of heat transfer and allows significant amounts of heat energy to be transported very efficiently.
Thermal conduction is defined as the transport of energy due to random molecular motion across a temperature gradient. It is distinguished from energy transport by convection and molecular work in that it does not involve macroscopic flows or work-performing internal stresses.
The first case is when natural convection aids forced convection. This is seen when the buoyant motion is in the same direction as the forced motion, thus accelerating the boundary layer and enhancing the heat transfer. [5] Transition to turbulence, however, can be delayed. [6] An example of this would be a fan blowing upward on a hot plate.