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Clavister t1_jaju669 wrote

What's the relationship between radiation, convection and conduction? Are they all just electrons exchanging energy with photons, where the only difference is whether the photons go directly between the substances or whether the atmosphere is involved? Do they happen in equal amounts whenever something is heated? I understand each phenomenon individually, but not how they fit together. It's not like atoms decide whether to engage in a quantum process or a regular Atomic one, is it? Sorry if my question doesn't make sense.

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Triabolical_ t1_jal1i3n wrote

Radiation is all about bodies emitting photons, where the amount of energy depends upon how hot the body is. That's why fires feel warm, infrared heaters feel warm, and the sun feels warm.

Conduction is about direct heat transfer. Heat is just thermal movement of the atoms in a body, so put that in contact with a colder body and the hot atoms run into the colder atoms and make them move faster, transferring heat.

Convection is the same as conduction, except that the transfer is done through air.

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Clavister t1_jam4prp wrote

Right, I understand each individual phenomenon, but, for example, how does an entire atom moving faster result in the electron(s) of that atom emitting photons? And, conversely, how does a photon being absorbed by an electron become the entire atom vibrating with a little more energy? Shouldn't the electron receiving the photon just jump up a quantum level, then back down again when it in turn emits a photon, rather than any of that activity somehow making the entire atom vibrate more? This is what I'm missing...

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