Undergrad What are the real-world applications of convection?

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Convection is a crucial heat transfer process applicable to all fluids, not just air and water. It plays a significant role in natural phenomena like atmospheric circulation and is vital in industrial applications, particularly in heat exchange equipment found in chemical and power generation plants. The discussion highlights the importance of both natural and forced convection, with a preference for natural convection examples. For further exploration of convection's applications, references to key texts such as "Transport Phenomena" and "Heat Transmission" are suggested. Understanding convection can enhance insights into both everyday occurrences and complex industrial systems.
LordWhiplash
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Where do we find the use of less conventional fluid convection currents in everyday life?
Hello guys, I'm a physics graduate student and recently I've questioned myself about convection when reading about heat transmission processes.

At least throughout my life, whenever I heard someone talk about convection, there were examples related to air and water convection currents, however, this effect is applicable to any fluid. So I would like to know in which interesting and important situations this phenomenon is present, either in industrial machines or in everyday life.
 
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LordWhiplash said:
Summary:: Where do we find the use of less conventional fluid convection currents in everyday life?

Hello guys, I'm a physics graduate student and recently I've questioned myself about convection when reading about heat transmission processes.

At least throughout my life, whenever I heard someone talk about convection, there were examples related to air and water convection currents, however, this effect is applicable to any fluid. So I would like to know in which interesting and important situations this phenomenon is present, either in industrial machines or in everyday life.
Are you talking about natural convection or forced convection?
 
Both, but preferably natural
 
There are too many situations to mention in which these are important. An important presence of natural convection is in atmospheric circulation. Convective heat transfer is present in all heat exchange equipment, such as in chemical plants and power generation plants. If you want to see more about this, see Transport Phenomena by Bird, Stewart, and Lightfoot and Heat Transmission by McAdams.
 
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