Ken Fabian
- 51
- 38
In another thread I made this comment -
My own reasoning says that without any heat exchange - without any cooling or heating affecting it - the temperature will remain uniform. I also expect that any such heating or cooling will have to be below a threshold - be too weak to cause an overturning circulation that would break up any stratification - to become stratified; with an overturning circulation the contents should get well mixed and be (close to) homogeneous in temperature.
I expect the transition between slow convection that makes stratification and convection strong enough to break up stratification and get homogeneity could get complex, so will begin with looking at those two states
I am interested in whether this is true ie, am I missing something?
Ken Fabian said:I don't expect water of uniform temperature with perfect insulation to stratify - but am not so sure of that to claim it cannot. But I do expect (by reason) that heat conduction within still water will tend to maintain temperature homogeneity.
My own reasoning says that without any heat exchange - without any cooling or heating affecting it - the temperature will remain uniform. I also expect that any such heating or cooling will have to be below a threshold - be too weak to cause an overturning circulation that would break up any stratification - to become stratified; with an overturning circulation the contents should get well mixed and be (close to) homogeneous in temperature.
I expect the transition between slow convection that makes stratification and convection strong enough to break up stratification and get homogeneity could get complex, so will begin with looking at those two states
I am interested in whether this is true ie, am I missing something?