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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.


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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The unique properties of diamonds, including high thermal conductivity and resistance to electrical breakdown, make it an ideal candidate for high-power, high-frequency electronic devices.

From Science Daily • Dec. 2, 2024

"Our results indicate that if the thermal conductivity is increased by a few times using the engineered paper, the hotspot temperature inside a transformer can be reduced by between 5 to 10 °C," he added.

From Science Daily • Apr. 16, 2024

The results show that when you only take electron transport into account, the ratio of electronic conductivity to thermal conductivity approaches what the Wiedemann-Franz law predicts, Wang said.

From Science Daily • Nov. 30, 2023

Zherui Han has posted his four-phonon thermal conductivity solver on GitHub, and published a paper describing the software's usage.

From Science Daily • Nov. 28, 2023

The thermal conductivity is also higher, a lump of anthracite feeling perceptibly colder when held in the warm hand than a similar lump of bituminous coal at the same temperature.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 2 "Anjar" to "Apollo" by Various

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