Heat energy transfer

● Heat energy, thermal energy, internal energy, temperature

and heat transfer

The internal energy in a substance is a measure of the total

kinetic energy of the particles in a substance. Internal energy
increases with rising temperature and with changes of state or phase
from solid to liquid and liquid to gas.

A higher kinetic energy in a substance means a higher internal energy.

The kinetic energy in a substance is related to its thermal energy. They
are one and the only thing. Thermal energy refers to the ( kinetic )
energy contained within a system that is responsible for its
temperature. The thermal energy of the system is the total kinetic
energy of the system's constituent particles due to their motion.
Thermal and internal energy is equal to the sum total kinetic
energy possessed by the molecules.

In solids the particles have comparatively low kinetic energy as

compared to the particles in liquid or gas and the lower the kinetic
energy, the lower the internal energy and thermal energy. An ice cube
for example has a very low internal energy because it has a lower
temperature, but if we keep it near a hot object the particles from the
hot object will start bumping into the particles of the ice cube
transferring their kinetic energy. This process where the energy moves
from a hot body to a cold body is called heating or heat. Heat energy
is the transfer of thermal energy from high temperature to low
temperature. In simple, heat energy is the transfer of the kinetic
energy of particles from a hot to a cold body and as kinetic
energy and thermal energy are the same thing we say that heat
energy is the transfer of thermal energy.

Hence when a substance is heated, the (thermal or kinetic)

energy supplied to the particles by the heat energy increases the
internal kinetic energy or simply the internal energy of the
substance.

Temperature is the measure of average kinetic energy of a

system. As the particles in a matter move faster its kinetic energy
begins to increase which in turn increases the thermal energy of
that substance and this all leads to an increase in temperature.

If the temperature of the substance is taken with a thermometer,

kinetic energy from the substance passes to the atoms or
molecules from which the thermometer liquid is made and
causes them to move faster too. This leads to an expansion of
the liquid in the thermometer tube. The thermometer measures
the (average) kinetic energy of the particles hitting the bulb and
not the total kinetic energy of all the particles in the substance.

A large mass of a substance holds a larger amount of thermal

energy ( or heat ) because it has more internal energy than a
smaller mass. Internal or thermal energy is the sum of the energy
of all of the particles. That means that large objects at a lower
temperature (with slower moving particles) can have more
energy than small objects with high temperatures (faster moving
particles). For instance if a soup is boiling at 100 degree celsius
and the water in the tub is just comfortably warm, with a
temperature of about 38 °C which of them do you think has more
internal energy ? The answer is that the particles of soup have
greater average kinetic energy than the particles of water in the
tub, explaining why the soup has a higher temperature. However,
the mass of the water in the tub is much greater than the mass of
the soup in the pot. This means that there are many more
particles of water than soup. All those moving particles give the
water in the tub greater total kinetic energy, even though their
average kinetic energy is less. Therefore, the water in the tub has
greater thermal energy than the soup.

During heat transfer, the thermal energy always moves in the

same direction. When heat gets transferred, there is always a
driving force behind it which is a difference in temperature. In
fact if you don't have a temperature difference you can have heat
transfer. For instance if you have two boxes close to each other
and they are both at the same temperature then one of the boxes
wont randomly start giving its heat away to the other object.
However if you keep an ice cube in contact with a warmer object
then the ice cube might warm up and melt. That's because the
hot object is more warmer than the ice cube and when heat
transfers it always moves from a high temperature to cold
temperature. Therefore, Heat energy only flows when there is a
temperature difference from a warmer area to a cooler area.
There are 3 main types of heat transfer to look out for:
Conduction, Convection and Radiation.

● Conduction, convection and radiation

Conduction - With conduction heat energy is transferred by the

collision of molecules or other particles. When two things touch,
the faster moving molecules of the warmer object crash into the
slower moving molecules of the colder object, transferring
energy that heats them up. Conduction can occur easily in
solids, less easily in liquids but hardly at all in gasses because
the gas atoms are too far apart to affect each other. It cannot
occur in a vacuum, such as outer space, where there are no
particles to pass on the heat energy. Conduction is fastest in
metals because they have electrons that are free to move. When
a metal is heated the electrons in that part move about faster and
pass on heat energy to nearby electrons and atoms, so that the
heat energy spreads quickly through to cooler parts of the metal.
A material that has low thermal conductivity is something that
does not transfer heat well. Copper for example has a high
thermal conductivity as it has many electrons that are free to
move that can pass on heat to the nearby electrons and atoms.
Materials like brick and drywall on the other hand have lower
thermal conductivity as they dont have as much free to move
electrons that can pass on heat to the other electrons. The
thicker the layers of insulation, the more resistant they are to
heat transfer by conduction. Hence materials with lower thermal
conductivity and thicker layers will have high thermal resistance.
However if there is more area for heat to be conducted though,
that will lower the thermal resistance. This is because an object
with a wider area has more surface particles working to conduct
heat. Also if the difference in temperature between two locations
is low then the rate of heat transfer will be low which ups the
thermal resistance and vica-versa. This is because the transfer of
heat will continue as long as there is a difference in temperature
between the two locations. Hence, since the difference in
temperature between two locations is low it won't be long once
the two locations have reached the same temperature and
thermal equilibrium is established, stopping the heat transfer.
Insulators are useful in reducing the loss of heat energy. For
instance a thick woolen pullover is a good insulator as it traps air
and reduces the loss of heat by conduction and convection.
These materials are not only poor conductors themselves but
they trap air which is a poor conductor itself to reduce
conduction further.

Convection - In convection, the heat energy is carried away by

the particles of the material changing position. For example,
the water next to the hot surface at the bottom of the pan
receives heat from the metal. The molecules of water next
to the metal move faster and further apart as their kinetic
energy increases, This makes the water next to the pan
bottom less dense than the water above it and the warm
water rises. Cooler water from above which is more denser
moves in to take the place of the rising warmer water. As the
warmer water rises it slowly cools down and becomes dense
resulting in it to sink. This cool water is warmed again and rises.
It is replaced by yet more cool water and convection currents are
set up. Convection currents are also set up in air. The air
reaching land is heated making the particles in the air move
faster and expand making it less dense and rise. The air then
cools down which slows down its particles making them contract
and become denser and eventually sink to the bottom. This cool
air warms up again and rises and is replaced by yet more cooler
air setting up a convection current in the atmosphere. Thinner
fluids with higher thermal conductivity will transfer more heat.
Heat transfer by convection depends on how fast a material ( i.e
fluid or gas ) conducts and how far it has to conduct. Therefore,
thinner fluids with higher thermal conductivity will transfer more
heat and vica versa. Similarly a small volume of air with high
thermal conductivity will also transfer more heat. Convection
also depends on how fast the fluid or air is moving. The lesser
the gas or fluid moves around, the less heat is transferred
through convection. Convection can only occur in liquids and
gas. It cannot occur in solids where the particles aren't allowed
to move freely nor can it in vacuum.

➔ Sea breeze and land breeze:-

In sunshine, the land warms up more quickly than the sea. Heat
is conducted from the land to the air layer immediately next to it,
so this air becomes warmer than that over the sea the warmer air
over the land rises, because it is now less dense, and the cooler
air above the sea moves inland, forming a convection current or
breeze, blowing in from the sea - this is called a sea breeze. At
night, the land cools more quickly than the sea. The warmer air is
now over the sea. This air rises and the cooler air moves from the
land towards the sea - this is called a land breeze.

Do Radiation, thermos flask and evaporation from book