Heat flux or thermal flux is the rate of heat energy transfer through a given surface. The SI derived unit of heat rate is joule per second, or watt. Heat flux is the heat rate per unit area. In SI units, heat flux is measured in . Heat rate is a scalar quantity, while heat flux is a vectorial quantity. To define the heat flux at a certain point in space, one takes the limiting case where the size of the surface becomes infinitesimally small.
Heat flux is often denoted, the subscript q specifying heat rate, as opposed to mass or momentum rate. Fourier's law is an important application of these concepts.
Read more about Heat Flux: Measuring Heat Flux, Relevance To Science and Engineering
Famous quotes containing the words heat and/or flux:
“Even if you find yourself in a heated exchange with your toddler, it is better for your child to feel the heat rather than for him to feel you withdraw emotionally.... Active and emotional involvement between parent and child helps the child make the limits a part of himself.”
—Stanley I. Greenspan (20th century)
“Sense is a line, the mind is a circle. Sense is like a line which is the flux of a point running out from itself, but intellect like a circle that keeps within itself.”
—Ralph J. Cudworth (1617–1688)