INTRODUCTION: Energy Transfer

Energy in physics is the capacity of a physical object to perform work, however, work has a
much more formal definition than in everyday life. It is the term for a body of matter that has
mass itself, has moved through a distance. Unlike matter, energy has no mass and impossible
to physically grasp. Nevertheless, over time, people have discovered a unit to measure energy
in, which is called the Joule (named after English physician James Prescott Joule 1818
1889). It can also be observed as an object that has an effect on other objects around it. 1
Mechanical, heat, electrical, magnetic, sound, chemical, kinetic and nuclear energy are the
forms that energy can exist in. Although these forms appear to be completely unrelated from
each other, they often have many similarities and are able to be transformed from one to
another.2 Energy; whatever form it may be, can be transferred and circulated between
elements and are categorised into three main types: conduction, convection and radiation.
Conduction is associated with the transfer of thermal energy between one substance and
another. When the atoms in an object are heated by a flame, they oscillate more than before.
The oscillations are passed to atom by atom until their temperature is at equilibrium with the
flame. In every case of conduction, both objects strive to have equal temperature. 3
Conduction is a reason why a pool feels cold even when its temperature is the same as the
surrounding air. The water conducts the heat away from the body more rapidly than air.
Therefore, we feel colder in a swimming pool but not out of it.4
This is the same with metals and non-metals. Metals can conduct heat and electricity better
than non- metals because of electrons that are free from the bonds of the atom and can travel
through the metal.

1 Energy, [Online] U-X-L Encyclopaedia of Science, 2002, at

http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/energy.aspx#4, [Accessed 26 July 2013]
2 Energy, [Online] op. cit
3 The Transfer of Heat Energy, [Online], 2010, at http://www.srh.noaa.gov/jetstream/atmos/heat.htm,
[Accessed 27 June 2013].
4 G. Rickard, and others, Science Dimensions 1, Pearson Australia, No place, 2006, p.95.

Convection is the transfer of thermal energy through movement of the molecules in liquids
and gases from a hot region to a cold region.5 While the molecules in solids are locked in
formation, the molecules in liquids and gases are free to move about.6 Therefore, as a source
of heat warms a pan of water, the water molecules at the bottom start to warm up and become
less dense than the cold water molecules because they are further apart and have lower
pressure. The warm molecules rise to the top to become cold molecules once again, and sink
to the bottom, only to be warmed again once more. 7 This repeats itself over and over until it
forms a cycling pattern within the pan.
Convection is also the cause of sea breezes. During the day, the suns thermal radiation heats
up the ground more than it warms up the sea and therefore, the air that is near the ground
warms up due to conduction. This mass of warm air rises and cool air rushes in to replace the
space. 8 This is felt as wind. Vice versa of this process is performed at night.
The third and last form of energy transfer is radiation. It is the transfer of electromagnetic
energy without the need for particles and therefore the suns infrared (heat) light can reach
Earth without the need for convection and conduction.9 Since all electromagnetic radiation is
a form of light, they are able to travel through a vacuum at the speed of light.
All the forms of electromagnetic radiation are organised into the electromagnetic spectrum,
which includes radio waves, microwaves, infrared waves, visible colours, ultraviolet rays, xrays and gamma rays. These are all organised from lowest to highest by the wavelengths and
the frequency of the wavelengths.

5 Convection, [Online], 1999, at http://theory.uwinnipeg.ca/mod_tech/node76.html [Accessed 4

August 2013].
6 Rickard, op. cit. p.97
7 Convection, [Online] op. cit.
8 Rickard, op. cit. p.98
9 Ibid., p. 99

The brain interprets the different frequencies of visible light into colours, going from lowest
to highest frequency: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.10 Infrared radiation
has a frequency lower than red and is emitted by every physical element as heat.
A particular form of electromagnetic radiation which has a frequency of 1017 Hz to 1019 Hz
and a wavelength of 10-10m is called the X-ray. 11 With high amounts of energy, just second to
the energy of gamma rays, the x-ray can pass through substances that stop normal light but
are absorbed by dense substances such as bone and metal. 12 Although x-rays are produced by
the sun, they can also be made artificially by x-ray machines using electricity at high voltage
passing through an x-ray tube. Its intensity and penetrating power can be controlled.
The x-ray, because of its properties of penetration, has deemed itself useful in society. Ever
since x-rays were discovered, they have been used in hospitals. With x-rays, there are many
improvements in the diagnosis and treatment of several medical conditions in children and
adults, quickly and efficiently. 13Such as diagnosing broken bones. The x-rays bounce off
bones and create an image. Doctors use this image to tell if it is a minor or major fracture or
if the bone has shattered and can know where the breakage is.14 If x-rays were not discovered,
the doctors of today can be comparable with those of the 19th century or before the invention
of the x-ray machine.
The benefits of x-ray scanning are that they painlessly help diagnose disease and monitor
therapy and also guide medical personnel when inserting tubes or other devices into the body
and treating tumours. 15However, long term x-ray exposure is a guaranteed way of killing
ones self because of the ionisation process. X-rays have the potential to cause cancer and
D.N.A manipulation. Also a persons chance to develop cancer increases slightly when they
10 The Transfer of Heat Energy, op. cit.
11 E. Spiers, Exploring Light, Wayland Ltd, East Sussex, 1989, p. 48
12 M. Pettigrew, Radiation, Aladdin Books, London, 1986, p.18
13 Radiation Emitting Products, [Online], 2013, at http://www.fda.gov/RadiationEmittingProducts/RadiationEmittingProductsandProcedures/MedicalImaging/MedicalXRays/default.htm, [Accessed 5 August 2013].
14 Pettigrew, op. cit.
15 Radiation Emitting Products, [Online]. Op. cit.

are only exposed to any x-rays. 16 The doctor or nurse who takes x-ray images, takes many
images and thus is exposed to the x-rays far more than the average human being.
X-rays have revolutionised the standards of medicine today by quickly finding the injury
through an efficient diagnosis and socially increased the wellbeing of humans by not needing
to take unscientific guesses for the persons diagnosis and perform an unneeded or
unnecessary surgery.
The most destructive photons known to man and the environment are called gamma rays.
These rays have an energy level ten thousand times of visible light and are created by the
nucleus of radioactive materials such as uranium. They can penetrate human tissue but are
stopped by a dense material known as lead. 17 Radioactive poisoning from gamma rays from
uranium along with other ionising radiation has made many areas uninhabitable. For
example, Chernobyl and all other incidents of nuclear bombs, nuclear meltdown and nuclear
fallout.
Bibliography
Convection. [Online]. (1999). Winnipeg: University of Winnipeg at
http://theory.uwinnipeg.ca/mod_tech/node76.html Accessed 4 August 2013.
Pettigrew, M. (1986). Radiation. London: Aladdin Books
Radiation Emitting Products. [Online]. (2013). Silver Spring: US Department of Health and
Human Services. At http://www.fda.gov/RadiationEmittingProducts/RadiationEmittingProductsandProcedures/MedicalImaging/MedicalXRays/default.htm, Accessed 5 August 2013.
Rickard G. and others. (2006) Science Dimensions 1, No place: Pearson Australia
Radiation Protection: Gamma Rays. [Online]. (2013). Washington: U.S Environmental
Protection Agency. At http://www.epa.gov/radiation/understand/gamma.html. Accessed 5
August 2013.
16 Radiation Emitting Products, [Online]. ibid.
17 Radiation Protection: Gamma Rays, [Online], 2013, at
http://www.epa.gov/radiation/understand/gamma.html, [Accessed 5 August 2013].

Spiers, E. (1989). Exploring Light. East Sussex: Wayland Ltd

The Transfer of Heat Energy. [Online]. (2010). Fortworth: National Weather Service at
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/jetstream/atmos/heat.htm. [Accessed 27 June 2013].