Can Electrons Really Conduct Heat?

AI Thread Summary
Electrons can transfer energy and thus contribute to heat conduction, but they do not possess heat capacity or temperature as they lack internal structure. Heat is defined as energy transferred between materials, while temperature reflects the average kinetic energy of particles in a substance. Since electrons are fundamental particles without sub-particles, they cannot absorb or release internal energy, making the concept of temperature inapplicable to them. The discussion highlights the distinction between heat and temperature, emphasizing that electrons, despite their role in heat transfer, do not have a temperature of their own. Ultimately, electrons are not capable of having temperature or heat capacity due to their fundamental nature.
quantumfoam
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Can an electron conduct heat? I know electrons are partially the reason why metals conduct heat, but can an electron itself conduct heat? In other words, does an electron have a heat capacity?
 
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What is "heat"?
Does it make sense to talk about the heat of a single particle?

Electrons can carry energy from place to place - they may gain energy from heat, get ejected, travel to some place where it is captured, transferring it's energy to the system as heat ... so the electron has conducted heat.
 
If electrons conduct heat, then do they have a heat capacity? Also, I just noticed I posted this on the mathematics section. Haha
 
quantumfoam said:
If electrons conduct heat, then do they have a heat capacity? Also, I just noticed I posted this on the mathematics section. Haha
Does a single molecule or atom have heat capacity?

What is heat?
 
Well temperature is the average kinetic energy of particles in a substance. Consequently shouldn't heat be almost the same thing?
 
quantumfoam said:
Well temperature is the average kinetic energy of particles in a substance. Consequently shouldn't heat be almost the same thing?
Temperature & heat are related, but they're not at all the same thing.
 
Well heat is the energy transferred between two materials. But heat can only be transferred between two objects if the objects have atoms and molecules to absorb the energy to use as kinetic energy. How does an electron get a raise in temperature if it doesn't have any sub sub atomic particles to pass on the heat energy?
 
What I mean to say is, can an electron have temperature?
 
  • #10
quantumfoam said:
Well heat is the energy transferred between two materials. But heat can only be transferred between two objects if the objects have atoms and molecules to absorb the energy to use as kinetic energy. How does an electron get a raise in temperature if it doesn't have any sub sub atomic particles to pass on the heat energy?

Isn't that the answer to your question? An electron can have kinetic energy, but that's about all. It doesn't have any component parts. So it can't have a temperature. It can't absorb or release any 'internal' energy. It doesn't have any.
 
  • #11
What I mean to say is, can an electron have temperature?
What is temperature?
 
  • #12
Temperature is the average kinetic energy of a materials particles. Since the electron doesn't have any "particles", it has
no temperature. Is it just me or is that strange thermodynamically? If a material doesn't have a temperature, what is the "stuff" that makes the electron? For neutrons and protons its a different story because they have quarks. What about the electron? Does having no temperature mean zero kelvin or something else?
 
  • #13
quantumfoam said:
Temperature is the average kinetic energy of a materials particles. Since the electron doesn't have any "particles", it has
no temperature. Is it just me or is that strange thermodynamically? If a material doesn't have a temperature, what is the "stuff" that makes the electron? For neutrons and protons its a different story because they have quarks. What about the electron? Does having no temperature mean zero kelvin or something else?

As far as anyone knows to date, an electron has no parts inside of it. If you connect an electron to a heat bath of any temperature it won't absorb heat or give it up. It has no temperature. That's not the same as zero kelvin.
 
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