I was taught heat is the result of faster atomic vibration. As there are very few atoms to vibrate between earth and the sun, what is the medium that conveys the heat to us in the relative vacuum of space?
Question
#57660. Asked by satguru. (Jun 09 05 2:37 PM)
peasypod
Free space is the medium.
Heat is used in physics to describe the transfer of energy. Temperature is a measure of the internal energy of a material. Heat then flows from hot bodies to cold bodies by conduction (atoms bumping into each other) convection (bulk movement of material like a current) and radiation (energy transferred by electromagnetic radiation). Free space doesn't conduct, but it does allow photons (of light) to travel, and it is this radiative heat transfer that warms the Earth.
Jun 10 05, 5:54 AM
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