What's Hot and What's Not?
What are examples of heat transfer that we encounter every day?Copyright 2004 Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052-6399 USA. All rights reserved.
With the help of simple, teacher-led demonstration activities, students learn the basic physics of heat transfer by means of conduction, convection and radiation. They also learn about examples of heating and cooling devices, from stove tops to car radiators, that they encounter in their homes, schools and modes of transportation. Since in our everyday lives we often want to prevent heat transfer, students also consider ways that conduction, convection and radiation can be reduced or prevented from occurring.
Engineers encounter problems of warming and cooling liquids in a number of situations. For pre-packaged beverages, this usually involves maintaining cold temperatures, but the principles are the same as those described in this lesson. Students approach the problems presented as engineers would, using heat transfer principles to accomplish a goal.
After this lesson, students should be able to:
- Define the terms conduction, convection and radiation in the context of heat transfer.
- Describe everyday examples of ways people try to cause or prevent heating and cooling by conduction, convection and radiation.
- Give examples of materials that serve well for heating by conduction, convection and radiation.