What Is an Example of Conduction?

Sean MacEntee/CC-BY 2.0

Some examples of conduction are a pot on a hot burner, a spoon in hot tea and touching a hot cup of coffee. In each of these examples, there is a transfer of heat from the hotter object to the colder one. Heat transfer occurs when there is molecular agitation and energy flow from an object at a higher temperature.

Some other examples of conduction are using a heating blanket to keep warm, a finger getting burned after touching a hot stove and placing a hot poker iron into water. Different materials are better heat conductors than others. For example, most metals are good conductors of heat.

However, the three types of heat transfer are conduction, convection and radiation. While convection is the heat transfer that occurs by the movement of a heated medium, such as air or water, radiation is the transfer of energy by electromagnetic waves through space. Some examples of convection are a greenhouse, the rising air in the atmosphere and an electric heater that warms up a cold room. Examples of radiation are the sun’s rays, heat from light bulb filaments and using a solar oven to cook food.

Radiation differs from conduction and convection because its heat transfer involves electromagnetic waves. In conduction and convection, the transfer of heat occurs through the movement of particles.

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