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Introduction to thermal and electrical conductivity

This teaching and learning package (TLP) provides an introductory guide to both electrical and thermal conduction. It includes a few of the basic mechanisms of conduction, some useful formulae, and some common applications of electrical and thermal conductors and insulators.

Montage of photos of copper cable and hot metalwork

Aims
Before you start
Introduction
Introduction to conduction
Metals: the Drude model of electrical conduction
Factors affecting electrical conduction
Thermal conduction metals
Electrical conduction: non metals
Non-metals: thermal phonons
Applications
Summary
Questions
Going further

Begin

Images adapted from "Hot metalwork" by Fir0002/Flagstaffotos, and "Copper cable" by Giovanni Dall'Orto

First created: April 2013. Converted to HTML5: April 2022.