natural convection

(noun)

A method for heat transport. A fluid surrounding a heat source receives heat, becomes less dense and rises. The surrounding, cooler fluid then moves to replace it. This cooler fluid is then heated and the process continues, forming a convection current.

Related Terms

Examples of natural convection in the following topics:

  • Convection

    • Example: Calculating Heat Transfer by Convection: Convection of Air Through the Walls of a House.
    • Convection is driven by large-scale flow of matter.
    • While convection is usually more complicated than conduction, we can describe convection and perform some straightforward, realistic calculations of its effects.
    • Natural convection is driven by buoyant forces: hot air rises because density decreases as temperature increases.
    • Cumulus clouds are caused by water vapor that rises because of convection.

  • The Phosphorus Cycle

    • In the spring, inorganic phosphorous is released from the sediment by convection currents in the warming water.
    • Most bodies of water gradually become more productive over time through the slow, natural accumulation of nutrients in a process called eutrophication.

  • Thermoregulation

    • At the same time, if a fluid such as circulating air or water in a pool comes into contact with the skin when we are very hot, this will allow for heat loss through the process of convection. 
    • The higher the amount of our body surface exposed to this (usually) circulating air (e.g. as little clothing as possible), the higher the speed of the circulating air (e.g. it’s really windy), and the smaller the distance between the skin surface and the blood vessels, the greater the loss of heat from our body via convection.
    • With respect to body heat loss, the processes of radiation and convection are most effective when the environmental temperature is below 20 C, while evaporative cooling accounts for the most heat loss when the environmental temperature is above 20 C, and especially when it’s hotter than 35 C. 
    • These flat hairs increase the flow of air next to the skin and increase heat loss by convection. 
    • Since the blood vessels are narrower than they were before, less blood flows through the skin and thus less heat can escape into the environment via radiation, convection, and conduction. 

  • Heat and Work

    • Heat is transferred by conduction, convection, and/or radiation.
    • Heat transfer by convection occurs through a medium.

  • Diffusion

    • Thus, diffusion should not be confused with convection or advection, which are other transport mechanisms that use bulk motion to move particles from one place to another.

  • Nerve and Blood Supply

    • The articular capsule is highly innervated but avascular (lacking blood and lymph vessels), and receives nutrition from the surrounding blood supply via either the slow process of diffusion or convection, a far more efficient process.

  • Homeostasis: Thermoregulation

    • Heat can be exchanged between an animal and its environment through four mechanisms: radiation, evaporation, convection, and conduction.
    • Convection currents of air remove heat from the surface of dry skin as the air passes over it.
    • Heat can be exchanged by four mechanisms: (a) radiation, (b) evaporation, (c) convection, or (d) conduction.

  • Radiation

    • Yet the space between Earth and the Sun is largely empty, without any possibility of heat transfer by convection or conduction.
    • Convection transfers energy away from the observers as hot air rises, while conduction is negligibly slow here.

  • Infrared Waves

    • Unlike heat transmitted by thermal conduction or thermal convection, radiation can propagate through a vacuum.

  • Overview of Heat

    • Convection is the heat transfer by the macroscopic movement of a fluid.