Message-Id: <3.0.3.32.19980615135001.006a71d4@mail.walltech.com>
Date: Mon, 15 Jun 1998 13:50:01 -0500
To: pinhole@exploratorium.edu
From: geoff ruth <geoffr@eastside.org>
Subject: Heating question
Here's a question that I put on my final exam for earth science class:
If you drop spaghetti into a pot of water, it will cook. Is this an example
of convection, conduction, or radiation?
Initially, I was thinking that conduction would best describe what's going
on, since the pasta's in direct contact with hot water. But some of my
students pointed out that it's also convection (movement of a fluid to
transmit heat). Is it really both? Is this an example of where the
distinctions between the different types of heating breaks down (the same
way that cool air moving past your skin is primarily convection but also
conduction)?
Geoff Ruth
Eastside School
2101 Pulgas Avenue
East Palo Alto, CA 94303
(650) 323-5898