: 2.

3 : [A] – TRANSFER OF THERMAL ENERGY : THERMAL CONDUCTION :

: PIONEER ACADEMY :
: 10 : PHYSICS

 TRANSFER OF THERMAL ENERGY : -

 Heat energy flows from higher temperature to lower temperature.
 There are three types of transmission of heat: (1) Conduction, (2) Convection & (3) Radiation.

 CONDUCTION : -
 It is the flow of heat from a place of higher temperature to a place of lower temperature without the
actual movement of molecules of the medium.
 Conduction takes place only in solids.
 E.g. : (1) while cooking in a pan, the handle of pan becomes hot due to conduction (that is why the
handles are made of wood or as they are bad conductors of heat).
(2) when a rod of copper or iron is heated from one end, the other end becomes hot.
 HOW CONDUCTION TAKES PLACE : -
 Solids have large number of free electrons which are moving continuously.
 When they are heated, the electrons in that part gain K.E. and move more faster and farther.
 As a result they transfer their heat to the neighboring molecules and so on.
 This process occurs quickly.
 EXPERIMENT TO DEMONSTRATE CONDUCTION IN SOLIDS: -
 A match is fixed at one end of each rod using melted wax.
 The other end of the rods are heated by a burner.
 When the temperature reaches the melting point of wax, the matches drop off.
 The match on copper falls first showing that it is the best conductor of heat.
 It is followed by aluminum, brass and iron.
 HOW RATE OF CONDUCTION CAN BE INCREASED : -
 Heat is conducted faster through a rod it has a large cross-section area & has a large temperature
difference between its ends.
 GOOD CONDUCTORS & BAD CONDUCTORS : -
 Materials through which heat passes, conducts heat, are called good conductors.
 E.g. : Copper, Aluminum, Brass, Iron, etc. are good conductors of heat. (Cu-best).
 Generally, all metals are good conductors of heat but nonmetals are bad conductors because they don’t
have free electrons.
 Materials through which heat do not pass are bad conductor of heat.
 E.g. : Wood, Wool, Plastics, Glass, Coke, Fabrics, Air, etc.
 Bad conductor of heat are also called insulators. Air is the best insulator of heat.
 Materials that trap air, e.g. wool, felt, fur, feathers, polystyrene, foam, fiberglass, are very bad
conductors. Some of these materials are used as ‘lagging’ to insulate water pipes, hot water cylinders,
ovens, refrigerators, & the walls & roofs of houses.
 Others are used to make warm winter clothes, wool, fur, feather.
 Water is poor conductor of heat.