Conduction

Heat:
A poker used in stirring a fire becomes hot and heats the hand grasping the poker, although only the opposite end of the poker has actually been in the fire. Heat from the fire passed into the poker, traveled along it, and warmed it. When heat flows in this way from a warm part of a body to a colder part, the process is called conduction. A flatiron is heated by conduction, the heat from the warm stove passing into the cold flatiron and gradually heating it.

In convection, air and water circulate freely, carrying heat with them; in conduction, heat flows from a warm region toward a cold region, but there is no apparent motion of any kind.

Heat travels more readily through some substances than through others. All metals conduct heat well; irons placed on the fire become heated throughout and cannot be grasped with the bare hand; iron utensils are frequently made with wooden handles, because wood is a poor conductor and does not allow heat from the iron to pass through it to the hand. For the same reason a burning match may be held without discomfort until the flame almost reaches the hand.

Stoves and radiators are made of metal, because metals conduct heat readily, and as fast as heat is generated within the stove by the burning of fuel, or introduced into the radiator by the hot water, the heat is conducted through the metal and escapes into the room.

Hot-water pipes and steam pipes are usually wrapped with a non-conducting substance, or insulator, such as asbestos, in order that the heat may not escape, but shall be retained within the pipes until it reaches the radiators within the rooms.

The invention of the "Fireless Cooker" depended in part upon the principle of non-conduction. Two vessels, one inside the other, are separated by sawdust, asbestos, or other poor conducting material. Foods are heated in the usual way to the boiling point or to a high temperature, and are then placed in the inner vessel. The heat of the food cannot escape through the non-conducting material which surrounds it, and hence remains in the food and slowly cooks it.

A very interesting experiment for the testing of the efficacy of non-conductors may be easily performed. Place hot water in a metal vessel, and note by means of a thermometer the rapidity with which the water cools; then place water of the same temperature in a second metal vessel similar to the first, but surrounded by asbestos or other non-conducting material, and note the slowness with which the temperature falls.

Chemical Change, an Effect of Heat.
This effect of heat has a vital influence on our lives, because the changes which take place when food is cooked are due to it. The doughy mass which goes into the oven, comes out a light spongy loaf; the small indigestible rice grain comes out the swollen, fluffy, digestible grain. Were it not for the chemical changes brought about by heat, many of our present foods would be useless to man. Hundreds of common materials like glass, rubber, iron, aluminum, etc., are manufactured by processes which involve chemical action caused by heat.

FIG. - A fireless cooker.