Conduction and

convection
Text Book page 54-57

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T.P : Conduction and Convection

• Describe how thermal

energy can be
transferred by
conduction and
convection.
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 What is heat?
Heat is a type of energy.
Heat is the name for the type of kinetic energy possessed
by particles.

Heat energy is measured in joules (J).

How many joules are there in a kilojoule (kJ)?

If something gains a lot of heat energy, it becomes hot

– so what is temperature?

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 What is temperature?
Temperature is a measure of how hot or cold an object is.
(It is not the total amount of energy contained in the object.)

Temperature is measured in degrees Celsius (ºC).

The freezing point of water is defined as 0ºC (at 1 atm.).

The boiling point of water is defined as 100ºC (at 1 atm.).

Temperature can be measured by a variety of different

thermometers. These include liquid in glass, digital,
thermocouple and bimetal strip thermometers.

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 Heat transfer
The correct phrase for heat transfer is ‘thermal transfer’.

Heat energy can be transferred (moved) by four processes:

1. conduction
2. convection
3. evaporation
4. radiation

In each process, thermal energy is also transferred in the way:

HOT COLD
Heat energy only flows when there is a temperature difference.

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 The particle model
The differences between solids, liquids and gases can be
explained by the particle model:

1. All substances are made up of particles (atoms, ions or

molecules).

2. These particles are attracted to each other, some strongly

and others weakly.

3. These particles move around (i.e. have kinetic energy).

4. The kinetic energy of particles increases with temperature.

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 Conduction experiment
Conduction of heat in different materials can be investigated
in an experiment.
Apparatus: 8 cm strip of copper
8 cm piece of wood
Bunsen burner
stopwatch
blob of wax

Take care whilst doing this experiment:

● Wear safety glasses.
● Do not touch mot metal objects!
● Wash any burn with cold water for ten minutes.

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 Conduction experiment

● Add a blob of wax to one end of the

copper and hold the other end in the
yellow Bunsen flame.
● How long does it take for the wax to
melt and drop off the metal strip?
● Now do the same for wood.
● Why are the times very different?

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 Conduction in metals

Metals are good conductors of heat because:

●Metals have atoms inside them and lots of
free electrons.
●The free electrons can move around
and vibrate.
●The heat energy is passed on by neighbouring
particles vibrating along the metal.

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 Conduction in non-metals
Non-metals are poor conductors of heat.
In a non-metal, heat energy is only passed on by neighbouring
particles vibrating along the non-metal (no free electrons).
This allows a flow of energy from hot to cold.

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 Conduction in liquids
Metals are good conductors of heat and non-metals are
poor conductors of heat (insulators).
Are liquids good at conducting heat?
●Use some gauze to hold an
ice cube at the bottom of a 100ºC
tube of water.
●Carefully heat the water
at the top of the tube only,
until this water is boiling. 0ºC
●If the liquid is good at
conducting, the ice should
quickly melt – it doesn’t.
●Liquids are poor conductors of heat (i.e. good insulators).

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 Conduction in gases
Liquids are poor conductors of heat (good insulators).
Are gases good at conducting heat?

●Carefully hold a safety match

1 cm away from a Bunsen
burner flame. (Do not put the
match in the flame!)

●If a gas is a good conductor, the

air between the flame and the
match should conduct heat and
light the match – it doesn’t.

●Gases are poor conductors of heat (i.e. good insulators).

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 Conduction – summary table

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 Convection and density
To understand how heat can be transferred by convection,
the idea of density is important.

If water, oil and air are mixed

up, they will settle out in order
of density – which one will
rise to the top?

The air is least dense and rises

to the top, the water is the
most dense and sinks to the
bottom – it depends on how
far apart the particles are.

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 Convection current in a liquid
The movement of hotter areas in a liquid can be seen using
potassium permanganate as a dye:
This cycle is called a
convection current.

heat heat
Can you explain how the convection current moves using
the idea of density?
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 Convection current in a gas
Convection currents cannot occur in solids because the
particles are held in fixed positions – but can they occur
in gases?

●Place a candle at one side

of a litre beaker.
●Place a piece of card down
the centre, leaving a gap of
2cm at the bottom.
●Make some smoke with
smouldering spills and
watch the path of the smoke.
Can you explain why this happens?

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 Watch the video
https://www.youtube.com/w
atch?v=Eizsm5V8c_c

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 Solve Workbook page 21
and 22.

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