Convection occurs when heat is transferred through a gas or liquid by the hotter material moving into a cooler area. Simply, convection is the circular motion that happens when warmer air or liquid — which has faster moving molecules, making it less dense — rises, while the cooler air or liquid drops down. Convection is a major factor in weather. Even simpler, lets look at convection in a gas first: The heater in your house is a good example of gases (air) convecting in your house. If you live in a two story or three story home, you know that if your heater comes on, the very top floor gets so hot!! But if your bedroom is in the basement, its really cold! When your heater comes on, it forces warm air out into the house. The less dense, more excited air molecules will rise to the top of your house. There they will cool down and slowly sink to the basement. Maybe you have ceiling fans in your basement to stir up the air and move it upstairs? Or maybe you have ceiling fans in your top floor bedrooms to move the hot air back down the stairs? This is one way to make your home warmer, longer before the particles cool off and sink back into the basement. Convection in a fluid works something like this: The heat source under the tub filled with water is warming the water molecules. When water is warmed it gets excited, less dense and rises! Even in water! When the molecules cool down, the molecules sink! Pretty cool huh? A hot air balloon works by taking advantage of convection in the atmosphere. The heat source heats air in the balloon, the warm air rises taking the balloon with it. When the balloon wants to come down, the heat source is stopped, the air inside the balloon cools and the balloon sinks to the ground with the cooling air molecules. This makes me want to float in a balloon, or go fly a kite...
3 Comments
Errol
1/19/2018 03:01:25 pm
Wow! That is what happened when we put our hot water and cup underneath! It was so cool to look at!
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Ally B.
1/21/2018 06:56:12 pm
Wow Mrs.Taylor you’ve done it again. An amazing blog
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sadie
1/22/2018 07:29:03 am
Good job on the blog Mrs. Taylor!!!
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Mrs. TaylorI love science! Everything about the world is interesting and never boring. I love to study plants, animals, insects, and people. My favorite subjects are my students who are the most unique organisms on the planet! Categories |