thermal conductivity

American  

noun

Physics.

1. the amount of heat per unit time per unit area that can be conducted through a plate of unit thickness of a given material, the faces of the plate differing by one unit of temperature.

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thermal conductivity British  

noun

1. Sometimes shortened to: conductivity.   λ.   k.  a measure of the ability of a substance to conduct heat, determined by the rate of heat flow normally through an area in the substance divided by the area and by minus the component of the temperature gradient in the direction of flow: measured in watts per metre per kelvin

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thermal conductivity Scientific  

1. A measure of the ability of a material to transfer heat. Given two surfaces on either side of the material with a temperature difference between them, the thermal conductivity is the heat energy transferred per unit time and per unit surface area, divided by the temperature difference. It is measured in watts per degree Kelvin.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

thermal conductivity

By combining thermal conductivity measurements with neutron scattering data, the team was able to directly connect the dramatic increase in heat flow to changes in the atomic vibrations inside the crystal.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 11, 2026

The late Professor Joseph Heremans of Ohio State designed the thermal conductivity experiments and guided doctoral candidate Delaram Rashadfar through the analysis.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 11, 2026

Bahadur is the corresponding author of a study that modeled the impact of high thermal conductivity paper on the performance and life of grid transformers published March 2024 in Cell Press journal Heliyon.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 16, 2024

"Now we will be able to measure precisely the thermal conductivity in these systems, and hope to understand and design better systems," Zwierlein concludes.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 8, 2024

In 1846 he began experiments on the temperature of the earth at different depths and in different soils near Edinburgh, which yielded determinations of the thermal conductivity of trap-tufa, sandstone and pure loose sand.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 6 "Foraminifera" to "Fox, Edward" by Various