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A temperature gradient is a physical quantity that describes in which direction and at what rate the temperature changes the most rapidly around a particular location. The temperature spatial gradient is a vector quantity with dimension of temperature difference per unit length. The SI unit is kelvin per meter (K/m).
The equation is much simpler and can help to understand better the physics of the materials without focusing on the dynamic of the heat transport process. It is widely used for simple engineering problems assuming there is equilibrium of the temperature fields and heat transport, with time.
The gradient of a function is called a gradient field. A (continuous) gradient field is always a conservative vector field: its line integral along any path depends only on the endpoints of the path, and can be evaluated by the gradient theorem (the fundamental theorem of calculus for line integrals). Conversely, a (continuous) conservative ...
Defining equation SI unit Dimension Temperature gradient: No standard symbol K⋅m −1: ΘL −1: Thermal conduction rate, thermal current, thermal/heat flux, thermal power transfer P = / W ML 2 T −3: Thermal intensity I = / W⋅m −2
The defining equation for thermal conductivity is =, where is the heat flux, is the thermal conductivity, and is the temperature gradient. This is known as Fourier's law for heat conduction. Although commonly expressed as a scalar , the most general form of thermal conductivity is a second-rank tensor .
When stated in terms of temperature differences, Newton's law (with several further simplifying assumptions, such as a low Biot number and a temperature-independent heat capacity) results in a simple differential equation expressing temperature-difference as a function of time. The solution to that equation describes an exponential decrease of ...
At the atomic scale, a temperature gradient causes charge carriers in the material to diffuse from the hot side to the cold side. This is due to charge carrier particles having higher mean velocities (and thus kinetic energy) at higher temperatures, leading them to migrate on average towards the colder side, in the process carrying heat across the material.
The ability to manipulate these properties allows engineers to control temperature gradient, prevent thermal shock, and maximize the efficiency of thermal systems. Furthermore, these principles find applications in a multitude of fields, including materials science , mechanical engineering , electronics , and energy management .