Thermal Conduction for the Dummy Physics Student

Thermal conduction

Most content farms – the ones that claimed to have "standards" instead of letting any self-described freelancer publish anything – seem to prefer contributors with English and journalism (aka "communications") degrees. This preference, unfortunately, tends to mean that STEM topics get short shrift. WiseGEEK.com apparently subscribes to this preference, at least in the case of M. R. Anglin and her AlltheScience.com post, "What is Thermal Conduction?"

Like many a liberal arts type before her, when faced with a question about matters technical she first googled her topic and second, reworded something that looked authoritative so she wouldn't get nailed for plagiarism. That would work, although honesty would suggest just printing a link to the authoritative reference – in which case, however, those freelancers wouldn't be paid for their "labor." What doesn't work is rewording something when you don't understand it: that leads to rubbish such as,

"Thermal conduction refers to the transfer of thermal energy because of an object having differing temperatures. For thermal energy to be transferred using conduction, there should be no movement of the object as a whole."

We imagine that's Anglin's rewording of text such as the Encyclopedia Britannica definition of thermal conduction, "[T]ransfer of energy (heat) arising from temperature differences between adjacent parts of a body," though we don't quite know where the "no movement" notion comes from. Is it M. R.'s thesis that conduction doesn't occur when a body is in motion? Hmmmm... we think not...

Some of Anglin's other notions are... interesting... such as

• "The particles—such as atoms and molecules—of an object with high thermal energy will move faster than that of an object with low thermal energy. "
• "When the particles are heated, they can either move around and bump into one another, thus transferring energy." [Note: isn't there supposed to be an "or" here?]
• "The heat source's particles will move and transfer thermal energy to the metal's particles..."
• "This is why some substances are used as insulators while others are used in applications such as cooking."

It's not that these notions are completely wrong, it's mainly that they're sophomoric. Some of the words are fairly advanced (high-school level, perhaps), but they're used in a manner more befitting a third-grade science class. This, apparently, is what happens when someone who is scientifically illiterate attempts to translate technical matter into "ordinary" speech: the facts somehow get distilled out.

Oh yeah: and if one of our research team sees it, the author wins a Dumbass of the Day award...

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