Heat flux density Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-10-14
Heat flux density is a vector describing the rate of heat transfer per unit area, measured in . Through a planar face of area with uniform normal component , the signed rate is in ; positive means heat travels in the chosen positive normal direction. Fourier's law determines the conductive contribution. In a bar with a constant cross-sectional area, steady thermal conduction without internal sources or side losses makes both and constant along the bar. Constant need not mean constant when the cross-sectional area varies.
Assume the rod has constant cross-sectional area , no internal source of heat, no bulk motion, and no lateral heat flux. Assume also that each section has a uniform temperature, so that depends only on , and that Fourier's law applies with the stated constant thermal conductivity . The longitudinal heat flux density is then .
By conservation of energy, the rate of increase of internal energy in a slice equals incoming minus outgoing heat:Divide by and take the limit . For a sufficiently differentiable temperature field this gives , and henceHere is mass density, is specific heat capacity, and is thermal diffusivity.
The equilibrium photon gas is isotropic, so the energy density per unit solid angle in a narrow angular-frequency interval is . For rays making angle with an outward surface normal, a surface element is crossed in time by rays initially in a volume . Only the outward hemisphere contributes. ThusThe hemispherical restriction supplies a factor and the directional projection supplies another . A small aperture in a cavity therefore emits this spectral power per unit area. A blackbody at the same temperature emits the same amount: otherwise radiation exchange between it and the aperture would violate thermal equilibrium.
Integrating Planck's law over all positive angular frequencies gives the total emitted heat flux densitySet . ThenThe remaining integral is independent of temperature, proving . Its value follows by expanding and integrating termwise:Consequently the Stefan–Boltzmann law isThis is emitted power alone. A body in a radiation environment also absorbs incoming radiation, which must be included when calculating net radiative cooling.
Specific internal energy Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-11-05
Specific internal energy is internal energy per unit mass, measured in . For a perfect gas with constant specific-heat ratio , choosing the constant reference as zero gives , where is the specific heat capacity at constant volume, the temperature, the pressure and the mass density.
For a single-component fluid, the local first law of thermodynamics can be writtenThe material derivative follows velocity ; is the viscous stress tensor, the heat flux density, and an external heating rate per unit volume. Compression supplies pressure work, the stress contraction accounts for viscous dissipation, and convergence of heat flux raises internal energy. Writing only assumes that viscous heating is negligible or included in . An insulated sheared fluid can warm even when no heat crosses its boundary.[ref]
https://farside.ph.utexas.edu/teaching/336L/Fluidhtml/node14.html. Richard Fitzpatrick, Energy Conservation, equations 1.72–1.74: local internal-energy balance and viscous heating