Introduction
The modern concept of heat as a form of energy and the
conservation of energy principle arose in the
19th century. In the 18th
century, scientists entertained two views of heat. One
envisioned heat as a fluid called "caloric" which could flow
from one body to another. An alternative view maintained that
all basic physical phenomena such as heat, light, electricity,
magnetism, chemical action had an explanation rooted in
mechanics. Eventually scientists realized that heat, energy
and work were related and that there is a conservation of
energy principle.
There are three distinct methods of transfer of heat:
radiation, convection and conduction. The first two methods
will not concern us here (except when involved in a boundary
condition). For further information about them, the reader is
referred to books on heat transfer such as that of
F.P. Incroprera and D.P. Dewitt.
We apply the term conduction to the transmission
of heat through a material medium from one region to a colder
region.
Here is a demonstration.
In this module, we study heat conduction in two simple
geometries. In particular, we shall focus on the relation
between the gradient of a temperature distribution and the
direction and magnitude of the resulting heat flow.
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