Heat transfer

[ben_kneale]

*eh hem*, this is my first post in this forum and i have a query on heat transfusion, i think i have the right forum though.

how do you measure the transfer of heat from a heater of certain watt's to a solid of certain mass?

thank you in advance,
ben

[Chi Meson]

FIrst, you have to make a huge assumption that the "watts" (this is the power of the heater) is going entirely into the thing being heated, and none of the energy is leaking into the atmosphere or anything else. For beginner physics this is OK, although int he real world you can be guaranteed that some energy will go elsewhere.

So, since "watts" is the same thing as "joules per second", then you multiply "watts" times the number of seconds that heater is on. Heat is the transfer of thermal energy. Power times times equals energy.

[Blistering Peanut]

well in a perfect system

energy lost by your heater = energy gained by the solid
Q = (Mass of solid)*(specific heat capacity of solid)*(rise in temp)