Betty goes swimming on a sunny day. In the shallow end of the pool, the water is nice and warm. She decides to jump in the deep end and after jumping in she says "It's so cold down there!"

Question

Which type of heat transfer is demonstrated by the water in this example?

Question 3 options:

convection

conduction

radiation

transmission

Answer 1

The type of heat transfer demonstrated by the water in this example is convection.

When Betty jumps into the deeper, colder water, she experiences a difference in temperature between the warm shallow end and the cold deep end. The warm water rises to the top while the colder water sinks, creating a flow that is characteristic of convection currents in the pool.

Conduction involves heat transfer between substances in direct contact, radiation involves the transfer of heat through electromagnetic waves, and transmission generally refers to the passage of energy through a medium. In this context, convection best describes the movement and mixing of water based on temperature differences.