I've got a question...

I would've posted this question in the chemistry newsgroup but the
people in there seem like idiots and I fear it would never get
answered. Heat is defined as the vibration of molecules right? Well how
does heat then travels through a vacuum?

wrote:

I would've posted this question in the chemistry newsgroup but the
people in there seem like idiots and I fear it would never get
answered. Heat is defined as the vibration of molecules right? Well how
does heat then travels through a vacuum?



infra-red electromagnetic waves


- nate

Why do you think so?
Photons travel carrying energy but not heat.


Best wishes,
Alexander Pavlik

On 10 Sep 2004 08:01:04 -0700, wrote:

I would've posted this question in the chemistry newsgroup but the
people in there seem like idiots and I fear it would never get
answered. Heat is defined as the vibration of molecules right? Well how
does heat then travels through a vacuum?

As I understand it, It doesn't. The Vibrating molecules produce
radiation that travels across the vacuum. This radiation is then
absorbed by molecules at the other end, causing them to vibrate.

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

In message ,
wrote:

I would've posted this question in the chemistry newsgroup but the
people in there seem like idiots and I fear it would never get
answered. Heat is defined as the vibration of molecules right? Well how
does heat then travels through a vacuum?

Heat, thus defined, doesn't. But energy can be converted from one
form to another. Electromagnetic radiation and the kinetic energy of
particles that makeup "solar wind" and "cosmic wind" hit
concentrations of particles (eg. our atmosphere) and cause them to
vibrate. Kind of like the cue ball hitting the pack in pool.

--
R.G. "Stumpy" Marsh.

As all radiating energy from the spectrum do.

wrote:
Heat is defined as the vibration of molecules right?

No. Heat is the average randomized kinetic energy per volume.
Vibration of molecules is one such form of energy, but there are many
others.

Well how does heat then travels through a vacuum?

It doesn't. Something else, say light, does travel through the
vacuum. When it arrives it reacts locally, say with the dirt, and is
converted into heat.

Consider how your stove works. You apply electricity and out comes
heat. Electricity is not hot, in fact it is rather ordered, and thus
very "cool". So electricity is not heat, nor is light, nor are lots of
things that can be _turned_into_ heat.

Maury

wrote in message
...
I would've posted this question in the chemistry newsgroup but the
people in there seem like idiots and I fear it would never get
answered. Heat is defined as the vibration of molecules right? Well how
does heat then travels through a vacuum?

Radiation.

Jeff
--
Remove icky phrase from email address to get a valid address.

The kinetic energy from atomic vibrations en masse can be propagated
through a medium. Also, heat may be transmitted via photons carrying
light energy... its all just conversion of one form of energy to another.

N.

wrote:
I would've posted this question in the chemistry newsgroup but the
people in there seem like idiots and I fear it would never get
answered. Heat is defined as the vibration of molecules right? Well how
does heat then travels through a vacuum?