convection currents
Warm fluid rising
Convection currents are circular movements in fluids—liquids or gases—caused by temperature differences.
Warmer material rises because it's less dense, while cooler material sinks, creating a continuous loop.
These currents distribute heat in oceans, the atmosphere, and Earth's mantle: Convection currents in the mantle drive plate tectonics.
The same principle operates in a pot of boiling water.
- heat transferMovement of thermal energy
- buoyancyFluid's upward resistance
- fluid dynamicsScience of flowing matter
- boiling potContainer of heated liquid
- plate tectonicsEarth's crust mobility theory
tectonic movement · geothermal vents · polar vortex · mantle · monsoons · weather patterns · ocean floor · plumes · lithosphere · trade winds · jet streams · turbulence · hurricanes · ocean currents · atmospheric pressure · cells · thermal · air
- physical phenomenadiffusion, collision, friction, explosion, surface tension
- tropical weatherhurricane, tropical storm, tropical cyclone, hurricanes, tropical depression
- convectionthermal currents, updraft, downdraft, thermals, updrafts
- current patternsocean currents, air currents, jet streams, trade winds, tidal currents
- Heat Scienceheat transfer, heat capacity, heat flow, specific heat, latent heat
- tectonicsplate tectonics, tectonic plates, tectonic plate, subduction, plate boundaries
convection currentsconduction
Heat transfer through contact
thermal conduction · radiation · heat conduction · thermal radiation · electromagnetic radiation