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Convection heating is a type of mass heating; when heat convects, it moves along with the body of its substance. When a warmer pocket of air moves up, this is a type of convection heating as the heat is being transferred by the movement of the entire body. Contrast convection heating to conduction heating in which the heat medium stays in the same place, but the heat itself moves from atom to atom through thermal transference. Convection heating is common in both appliances and natural events. - The heated pot of water is a common convection example. When a pot of water is placed on a burner, the burner heats up the water at the base of the pot. This water eventually begins to rise as bubbles of hot water move through colder water, a process of convection. As the pockets of hot water rise, the cold water sinks to the base of the pot and is warmed, in turn, continuing the cycle.
- While much of the heat in the earth can be conductive, in heating areas where magma flows beneath the surface, the earth transfers heat through convection processes. The magma moves its own heat as it moves through the earth due to pressure changes, sometimes carrying it out to the surface through areas of high geologic activity.
- The air in the lower atmosphere is constantly moved by convection heating. For instance, the air over water heats and cools more slowly than air over land, creating a pressure difference that shifts large bodies of air. As a result, warm air rises from land during the day and rises from water during the night, creating weather cycles due to convection.
- Air conditioning systems transfer heat by both conduction and convection. They conduct heat when they spread heat from their heat exchanger fins into the air. They convect heat when they use fans to blow the air through the home and increase the temperature of the rooms as a result. The air moves as an entire body when it carries its heat, making it a type of convection heating.
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