Conduction and Expansion

Abstract

Heat flows through matter, from hot to cold, by conduction. It does this better through some substances than others. Metals are relatively good conductors. The obvious way of determining the conductivity of a metal is to take a rod of it, keep one end hotter than the other, and measure the rate at which heat flows through it. Heat is a form of energy, and the rate of heat transfer is the ratio of the amount of heat transferred to the time required for the transfer.