Thermal

Heat conduction (or thermal conduction) is the transfer of internal energy by microscopic diffusion and collisions of particles or quasi-particles within a body due to a temperature gradient. Conduction can only take place within an object or material, or between two objects that are in direct or indirect contact with each other. Conduction takes place in all forms of matter, such as solids, liquids, gases and plasmas.

Whether by conduction or by thermal radiation, heat spontaneously flows from a hotter to a colder body. In the absence of external drivers, temperature differences decay over time, and the bodies approach thermal equilibrium.

In conduction, the heat flow is within and through the body itself. In contrast, in heat transfer by thermal radiation, the transfer is often between bodies, which can be spatially separate. Also possible is transfer of heat by a combination of conduction and thermal radiation.

In the engineering sciences, heat transfer includes the processes of thermal radiation, convection, and sometimes mass transfer. Usually more than one of these processes occurs in a given situation. The conventional symbol for the material property, thermal conductivity, is k.