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conductivity
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Diagram showing three methods of heat transfer: conduction with heat moving along a metal rod from a flame, convection with circulating currents in a heated kettle, and radiation with heat from a heater warming hands. Bar chart comparing the speed of sound in different materials: air (1,129 feet/second), water (4,794), wood (12,620), iron (16,820), and stone (19,685), with values also given in meters per second. conductivities
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Diagram showing three methods of heat transfer: conduction with heat moving along a metal rod from a flame, convection with circulating currents in a heated kettle, and radiation with heat from a heater warming hands.
heat Heat flows from the hot end to the cool end of the rod via conduction. As the distance from the burner flame increases, the temperature of the rod falls by a proportional amount. In a teakettle (bottom left), hot water rises and cold water descends until all the water reaches the same temperature through convection. A home heating lamp (bottom right) produces its heating effect by direct transfer of radiant energy.

conductivity

physics
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Bar chart comparing the speed of sound in different materials: air (1,129 feet/second), water (4,794), wood (12,620), iron (16,820), and stone (19,685), with values also given in meters per second.
conductivityConductivity of sound in various mediums.

conductivity, term applied to a variety of physical phenomena. In heat, conductivity is the quantity of heat passing per second through a slab of unit cross-sectional area when the temperature gradient between the two faces is unity. Electrical conductivity is the current or the quantity of electricity passing per second through a similar slab when the potential gradient is unity, and it is the reciprocal of the resistivity. In sound the conductivity of the orifice or neck of a resonator is the ratio of the area to the length of the orifice.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Michael Ray.