Can Electrons Really Conduct Heat?

[quantumfoam]

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?

 

[Simon Bridge]

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.

 

[quantumfoam]

If electrons conduct heat, then do they have a heat capacity? Also, I just noticed I posted this on the mathematics section. Haha

 

[SammyS]

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?

 

[quantumfoam]

Well temperature is the average kinetic energy of particles in a substance. Consequently shouldn't heat be almost the same thing?

 

[Simon Bridge]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat#Microscopic_origin_of_heat

BTW: the earlier description of how you could say that electrons conduct heat is more properly a description of heat transfer by radiation.

 

[SammyS]

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.

 

[quantumfoam]

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?

 

[quantumfoam]

What I mean to say is, can an electron have temperature?

 

[Dick]

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.

 

[Simon Bridge]

What I mean to say is, can an electron have temperature?

What is temperature?

 

[quantumfoam]

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?

 

[Dick]

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.