Encyclopedia > Thermal diffusivity

  Article Content

Thermal diffusivity

In heat transfer analysis, thermal diffusivity is the ratio of thermal conductivity to heat capacity.

<math>\alpha = {k \over {\rho c_p}}</math>

where k is thermal conductivity and ρcp is heat capacity. Units are mē/s.

Substances with high α will rapidly adjust their temperature to that of surroundings, because they conduct heat quickly in comparison to their thermal 'bulk'.

See also thermodynamics.



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
Monty Woolley

... actor. Born Edgar Montillion Wooley in New York City, Woolley was a professor and lecturer at Yale University (one of his students was Thornton Wilder) who began acting ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 26.7 ms