Convection Examples

Melting Ice, raising hot air above the fire, modern air conditioning, car radiators, microwave convection oven, water heater, etc are examples of convection in our daily life. Other than these there are some more examples, which are as follows:

• Warm water goes toward the poles as it approaches the equator, whereas cooler water goes toward the equator.
• Warm-blooded animals use convection to circulate their blood, which helps to regulate their body temperature.
• The phenomenon of the sea and the land wind is one of the most prevalent examples of natural convection.

Sea Breeze

During the day, there is a wind from the sea. Both the water and the land are heated by the sun. Because water has a higher heating capacity than land, it receives more of the sun’s energy yet warms up considerably more slowly. As a result, the temperature above the land rises, heating the air in the surrounding environment.

Warm air expands because it is less dense, resulting in a low-pressure region over the land along the shore. Meanwhile, the water is under considerably higher pressure. Due to the pressure differences in the air, the air flows from sea to land. As a result, an unexpected gust of wind is felt known as the sea breeze.

The concept of the sea breeze is shown in the image added below.

Land Breeze

When the situation changes at night, these phenomena arise. The land and sea begin to chill as the sun sets. Due to variations in heat capacity, the land loses heat faster when compared to water. Comparably, the water temperature becomes higher, resulting in low air pressure there. This creates a cool wind off the coast, known as the land breeze.

The concept of the land breeze is shown in the image added below.

Convection is one of the ways out of three ways, in which heat can transfer between systems or substances. Other than Convection, Conduction, and Radiation are the other two modes of heat transfer. It has probably been seen that if a cup of hot tea is left on a table for a long period, it cools down.

This is due to heat loss to the environment. As a result, heat transfer is described as the transmission of heat or thermal energy from one physical system to another. Therefore, when two bodies have a temperature differential, heat is transported from the hot body to the cooler body.