Practice question · Multiple choice
Conduction, convection and radiation transfer heat, but only one works across empty space. What distinguishes it?
Hints
- Ask what each mechanism needs in order to operate.
- How does the Sun heat the Earth?
Show the answer
C. Radiation carries energy as waves and needs no matter
Why
Two mechanisms need matter and one does not. Everything the Earth receives from the Sun crosses 150 million km of vacuum, which only radiation can do.
Practise Heat Transfer: Conduction, Convection, Radiation
The app has 5 more questions on this lesson, and keeps your place in the course. Physics I is free to start.
More questions on Heat Transfer: Conduction, Convection, Radiation
- Complete the statement with the correct term.
- Match each heat transfer mechanism to its description.
- Which of the following are examples of convective heat transfer?
- Complete the following passage by choosing the correct terms from the word bank.
- Sort each example into its primary heat transfer mechanism.
- A tile floor feels much colder to bare feet than a wooden floor in the same room. Both floors have been in…
- Thermal radiation can transfer heat through a vacuum because it travels as electromagnetic waves.