Thermodynamics is the science of heat and hotness, of how bodies and other physical systems respond to heat, and of how heat can be used to drive other processes. An interesting type of coupling of processes can be demonstrated nicely in thermoelectric phenomena. Heat can be stored, it can be produced, and it can be transported. Studying transport processesconductive, convective, and radiativeis particularly interesting and important in nature and in technical systems. Looking at thermal processes from this view point leads directly to a dynamical theory of heat. | |