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Chapter 23 Heat Transfer

When two objects at different temperatures come in thermal contact, either directly or indirectly, the two bodies are initially not in thermal equilibrium with each other. If you wait for long enough time, nature tends to bring them to the thermal equilibrium by transferring energy from the regions of higher temperature to the regions of lower temperature. This process is called heat transfer.

There are basically three ways that heat is transferred from one place to another. They are

  1. Conduction,
  2. Convection,
  3. Radiation.

These modes of heat transfer differ in the physical mechanism of the energy transport. The conduction requires direct contact, convection requires flow of material, and radiation happens through electomagnatic radiation.