LESSON 7

Heat transfer

Objectives

 Calculate thermal conductivity.

 Observe conduction of heat in collisions.
 Study thermal conductivities of common substances
 Discuss the method of heat transfer by convection
 Discuss heat transfer by radiation.
 Explain the power of different materials.

Introduction

Equally as interesting as the effects of heat transfer on a system are the methods by which this
occurs.

Whenever there is a temperature difference, heat transfer occurs. Heat transfer may occur
rapidly, such as through a cooking pan, or slowly, such as through the walls of a picnic ice chest.

We can control rates of heat transfer by choosing materials (such as thick wool clothing for the
winter), controlling air movement (such as the use of weather stripping around doors), or by
choice of color (such as a white roof to reflect summer sunlight). So many processes involve heat
transfer, so that it is hard to imagine a situation where no heat transfer occurs.

Yet every process involving heat transfer takes place by only three methods:

Conduction is heat transfer through stationary matter by physical contact. (The matter is
stationary on a macroscopic scale—we know there is thermal motion of the atoms and molecules
at any temperature above absolute zero.) Heat transferred between the electric burner of a stove
and the bottom of a pan is transferred by conduction.

Convection is the heat transfer by the macroscopic movement of a fluid. This type of transfer
takes place in a forced-air furnace and in weather systems.
Heat transfer by radiation occurs when microwaves, infrared radiation, visible light, or another
form of electromagnetic radiation is emitted or absorbed. An obvious example is the warming of
the Earth by the Sun. A less obvious example is thermal radiation from the human body.

Convection

When part of a fluid is warmed, such as the air above a fire, the volume of that part of the fluid
expands, and the density decreases. According to Archimedes’ principle, the surrounding cooler
and denser fluid exerts a buoyant force on the warmer fluid and pushes it upward. As warmer
fluid rises, the surrounding cooler fluid replaces it. This cooler fluid, in turn, is warmed and
pushed upward. Thus, a continuous flow is established, which carries along heat.

Convection heat is transferred by the bulk movement of a gas or a liquid. The fluid flow itself is
called a convection current.

The smoke rising from a fire is one visible result of convection. The less visible example of
convection currents in a pot of water being heated on a gas burner. The currents distribute the
heat from the burning gas to all parts of the water.
 Conduction

Conduction is the process whereby heat is transferred directly through a material, with

any bulk motion of the material playing no role in the transfer.

One mechanism for conduction occurs when the atoms or molecules in a hotter part of the
material vibrate or move with greater energy than those in a cooler part. By means of collisions,
the more energetic molecules pass on some of their energy to their less energetic neighbors. For
example, imagine a gas filling the space between two walls that face each other and are
maintained at different temperatures. Molecules strike the hotter wall, absorb energy from it, and
rebound with a greater kinetic energy than when they arrived.

As these more energetic molecules collide with their less energetic neighbors, they transfer some
of their energy to them. Eventually, this energy is passed on until it reaches the molecules next to
the cooler wall. These molecules, in turn, collide with the wall, giving up some of their energy to
it in the process. Through such molecular collisions, heat is conducted from the hotter to the
cooler wall.

A similar mechanism for the conduction of heat occurs in metals. Metals are different from most
substances in having a pool of electrons that are more or less free to wander throughout the
metal. These free electrons can transport energy and allow metals to transfer heat very well. The
free electrons are also responsible for the excellent electrical conductivity that metals have.

Those materials that conduct heat well are called thermal conductors, and those that conduct
heat poorly are known as thermal insulators.

Factors that influence the conduction of heat

The amount of heat Q conducted through the bar from the warmer end to the cooler end
depends on a number of factors.
i. Q is proportional to the time t during which conduction takes place (Q α t). More heat
flows in longer time periods.
ii. Q is proportional to the temperature difference ΔT between the ends of the bar (Q α ΔT).
A larger difference causes more heat to flow. No heat flows when both ends have the
same temperature and ΔT = 0 C0.
iii. Q is proportional to the cross-sectional area A of the bar (Q α A)
iv. Q is inversely proportional to the length L of the bar (Q α1/L). Greater lengths of material
conduct less heat.
The heat Q conducted during a time t through a bar of length L and cross-sectional
area A is
k ∆TAt
Q=
L
k, which is called the thermal conductivity. Different materials have different thermal
conductivities.
The temperatures at the ends of the bar are 85.00 C at the warmer end and 27.00 C at the
cooler end. The bar has a length of 0.680 m. What is the temperature at a point that is
0.220 m from the cooler end of the bar?

Radiation
Energy from the sun is brought to earth by large amounts of visible light waves, as well
as by substantial amounts of infrared and ultraviolet waves. These waves are known as
electromagnetic waves, a class that also includes the microwaves used for cooking and
the radio waves used for AM and FM broadcasts. The sunbather feels hot because her
body absorbs energy from the sun’s electromagnetic waves. Anyone who has stood by a
roaring fire or put a hand near an incandescent light bulb has experienced a similar effect.
Thus, fires and light bulbs also emit electromagnetic waves, and when the energy of such
waves is absorbed, it can have the same effect as heat.
The process of transferring energy via electromagnetic waves is called radiation.
Unlike convection or conduction, it does not require a material medium. Electromagnetic
waves from the sun, for example, travel through the void of space during their journey to
earth.
All bodies continuously radiate energy in the form of electromagnetic waves. Even an ice
cube radiates energy, although so little of it is in the form of visible light that an ice cube
cannot be seen in the dark. Likewise, the human body emits insufficient visible light to be
seen in the dark.
In the transfer of energy by radiation, the absorption of electromagnetic waves is just as
important as their emission. The surface of an object plays a significant role in
determining how much radiant energy the object will absorb or emit.

The temperature of the block coated with lampblack rises faster than the temperature of
the block coated with silver because the black surface absorbs radiant energy from the
sun at the greater rate.
The two blocks in sunlight in figure above, for example, are identical, except that one has
a rough surface coated with lampblack (a fine black soot), while the other has a highly
polished silver surface. As the thermometers indicate, the temperature of the black block
rises at a much faster rate than that of the silvery block. This is because lampblack
absorbs about 97% of the incident radiant energy, while the silvery surface absorbs only
about 10%. The remaining part of the incident energy is reflected in each case. We see
the lampblack as black in color because it reflects so little of the light falling on it, while
the silvery surface looks like a mirror because it reflects so much light. Since the color
black is associated with nearly complete absorption of visible light, the term perfect
blackbody or, simply, blackbody is used when referring to an object that absorbs all the
electromagnetic waves falling on it.
All objects emit and absorb electromagnetic waves simultaneously. When a body has the
same constant temperature as its surroundings, the amount of radiant energy being
absorbed must balance the amount being emitted in a given interval of time. The block
coated with lampblack absorbs and emits the same amount of radiant energy, and the
silvery block does too. In either case, if absorption were greater than emission, the block
would experience a net gain in energy. As a result, the temperature of the block would
rise and not be constant. Similarly, if emission were greater than absorption, the
temperature would fall.
Since absorption and emission are balanced, a material that is a good absorber, like lamp-
black, is also a good emitter, and a material that is a poor absorber, like polished silver,
is also a poor emitter. A perfect blackbody, being a perfect absorber, is also a perfect
emitter.
The amount of radiant energy Q emitted by a perfect blackbody is proportional to then
radiation time interval t (Q αt). The longer the time, the greater is the amount of energy
radiated.
Experiment shows that Q is also proportional to the surface area A (Q αA). An object
with a large surface area radiates more energy than one with a small surface area, other
things being equal.
Finally, experiment reveals that Q is proportional to the fourth power of the Kelvin
temperature T (Q αT4), so the emitted energy increases markedly with increasing
temperature. If, for example, the Kelvin temperature of an object doubles, the
object emits 24 or 16 times more energy.
Combining these factors into a single proportionality, we see that
Q αT4At.
This proportionality is converted into an equation by inserting a proportionality constant
σ, known as the Stefan–Boltzmann constant. It has been found experimentally that σ =
5.67x108 J/(s.m2 .K4 ).
Q = σ T4At.

The relationship above holds only for a perfect emitter.

Most objects are not perfect emitters, however. Suppose that an object radiates only about
80% of the visible light energy that a perfect emitter would radiate, so
Q = 0.80σ T4At.
The factor such as the 0.80 in this equation is called the emissivity e and is a
dimensionless number between zero and one.
The emissivity is the ratio of the energy an object actually radiates to the energy the
object would radiate if it were a perfect emitter.
For visible light, the value of e for the human body, for instance, varies between about
0.65 and 0.80, the smaller values pertaining to lighter skin colors. For infrared radiation,
e is nearly one for all skin colors.
For a perfect blackbody emitter, e = 1.
Including the factor e on the right side of the expression Q = σ T 4At leads to the Stefan–
Boltzmann law of radiation.
Q = eσ T4At

Examples
What is the change in the rate of the radiated heat by a body at the temperature T1 = 20ºC
compared to when the body is at the temperature T2 = 40ºC?
Solution
The radiated heat is proportional to the fourth power of the absolute temperature.
Because T1 = 293 K and T2 = 313 K, the rate of heat transfer increases by about 30
percent of the original rate.