Question

Is boiling water conduction or convection?

Answer 1

Conduction: The process of transmission of energy from one particle to another is called the conduction, but here each particle of the medium remains in its position.

• In physics or chemistry, conduction is primarily understood as the transfer of heat energy through a material.
• Conduction can occur in solids, liquids and gases.

Convection: Convection is the process of heat transfer by the bulk movement of molecules within liquids such as gases and liquids.

• The initial heat transfer between the object and the fluid occurs through conduction.
• But the bulk heat transfer is due to the motion of the fluid.

Boiling of water is the process of convection.

• When a water is heated from below, thermal expansion occurs due to which the lower layers of the water become less dense due to overheating.
• Buoyancy causes the less dense and hotter part of the water to rise and the cooler and denser water takes its place.
• This process is repeated until the water becomes uniformly heated. In this way heat is transferred by convection.