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Newton's law is most closely obeyed in purely conduction-type cooling. However, the heat transfer coefficient is a function of the temperature difference in natural convective (buoyancy driven) heat transfer. In that case, Newton's law only approximates the result when the temperature difference is relatively small.
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-cooling is sometimes loosely assumed to be described by Newton's law of cooling. [6] Newton's law states that the rate of heat loss of a body is proportional to the difference in temperatures between the body and its surroundings while under the effects of a breeze. The constant of proportionality is the heat transfer coefficient. [7]
The transport equations for thermal energy (Fourier's law), mechanical momentum (Newton's law for fluids), and mass transfer (Fick's laws of diffusion) are similar, [5] [6] and analogies among these three transport processes have been developed to facilitate the prediction of conversion from any one to the others. [6]
Heat transfer is the natural process of moving energy to or from a system, other than by work or the transfer of matter. In a diathermal system, the internal energy can only be changed by the transfer of energy as heat: Δ U s y s t e m = Q . {\displaystyle \Delta U_{\rm {system}}=Q.}
The molecular transfer equations of Newton's law for fluid momentum, Fourier's law for heat, and Fick's law for mass are very similar. One can convert from one transport coefficient to another in order to compare all three different transport phenomena.
The heat transfer coefficient has SI units in watts per square meter per kelvin (W/(m 2 K)). The overall heat transfer rate for combined modes is usually expressed in terms of an overall conductance or heat transfer coefficient, U. In that case, the heat transfer rate is: ˙ = where (in SI units):
The heat transfer rate can be written using Newton's law of cooling as = (), where h is the heat transfer coefficient and A is the heat transfer surface area. Because heat transfer at the surface is by conduction, the same quantity can be expressed in terms of the thermal conductivity k: