heat transfer
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Heat transfer is the movement of thermal energy from one place to another in physical systems, such as when heat moves from a hot object to a cooler one. Understanding heat transfer matters because it affects everyday phenomena like how buildings lose warmth, how engines work, and how we cook food.
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Article
Simulation of thermal convection in the Earth's mantle. Colors span from red and green to blue with decreasing temperatures. A hot, less-dense lower boundary layer sends plumes of hot material upwards, and cold material from the top moves downwards.
Heat transfer is a discipline of thermal engineering that concerns the generation, use, conversion, and exchange of thermal energy (heat) between physical systems. Heat transfer is classified into various mechanisms, such as thermal conduction, thermal convection, thermal radiation, transfer of energy by phase changes, and evaporative cooling. Engineers also consider the transfer of mass of differing chemical species (mass transfer in the form of advection), either cold or hot, to achieve heat transfer. While these mechanisms have distinct characteristics, they often occur simultaneously in the same system.