What is heat?
We know that heat rises. Why?
At an atomic level, what is heat?
In order to melt an element, such as iron, heat must be applied to the raw material.
It is interesting to note that it doesn’t really matter what the source of the heat is, just that a specific amount of heat is required to make iron molten.
Iron can be melted with wood based fire, coal based fire, gas based fire, oil based fire, a solar furnace or electricity.
Why does iron turn from a solid to a liquid simply by applying heat regardless of where the heat comes from?
What is the common denominator (at an atomic level) of all the sources of heat that can cause iron to melt?
Analysis of Electric Heat
It is known that electricity is simply the movement of electrons through or around a conductive material such as copper. The protons and neutrons that make up the nucleus of a copper atom do not move, only the electron moves.
The current scientific consensus is: the most conductive materials (copper, silver and gold) have only 1 electron in their outer orbit. It is assumed, in a conductor, that the bond from the proton to the electron in the outer orbit is weak so it is easy to bump the electron from the nucleus of one atom to the nucleus of the next atom.
If we can use electricity to melt iron, it follows that melting occurs when there is a specific number of electrons present in a specific space. Electricity has nothing else to contribute to the melting process. It only consists of electrons moving through a conductor.
In order to convert the electrons from bound electrons to free electrons, electricity must pass through a resistive material. Electrons are forced out of the resistive material as free electrons or what we commonly call heat. The free electrons are then absorbed by the iron and bound to the iron atom allowing the iron atom to release from the atom next door.
Since we know that an abundance of electrons will cause iron to melt, (based on our observation of electrical heat) then it follows that, at an atomic level, wood based fire, coal based fire, etc. are all producing the same abundance of electrons that electricity produces.
It also follows that if a solar furnace can melt iron; then there is an abundance of electrons in light as well.
When iron is exposed to this abundance of electrons, the bonds between the atoms of iron are released and the iron turns to a liquid. When the iron cools (electrons are released) the bonds between the iron atoms are reestablished and the iron turns back into a solid.
So what is the atomic bond that causes iron to become a solid?
We believe that protons repel each other just as electrons repel each other. Protons have the same charge and they naturally push away from each other. Electrons also repel each other due to the fact that they carry the same charge.
Consequently, the protons in the iron cannot be attracted to each other. So how can they bond?
The protons in the iron are attracted to electrons.
In a solid, such as iron, in our normal atmosphere, there are an insufficient number of electrons to satisfy the demands of all the protons. When iron is a solid, it is borrowing the electron from the neighboring atom, periodically, which causes the atomic bonding to occur. When iron is a liquid, there are more than enough electrons present so that the electron bonding to the neighboring atom is no longer necessary.
So why does heat rise?
Since electrons flow from a greater concentration to a lesser concentration and heat is simply an abundance of electrons, the electrons are flowing out to space. It is leaving an area where electrons are abundant to go to an area where electrons are not as abundant. This is the process of heat moving to cold.
In space, heat does not rise. Heat only rises in a gravitational environment. A gravitational environment, such as the earth, has a mass of protons and neutrons that cause excess electrons to be accumulated.
Since electrons obey different rules than protons and neutrons, they defy the laws of gravity. Since they defy the laws of gravity, they have no mass using Newton’s Laws of Gravity.
Since the human body is electrical; heat is sensed by electrons flowing through nerves towards the brain. Cold is sensed by the flow of electrons out of the body away from the brain. Many science centers/museums have warm and cold plates where you can place your hands on both plates at the same time and you will feel the net result of both plates. If you touch the warm plate with only one hand, the plate is warm. If you touch the cold plate with one hand, it is cold. But if you touch both plates with both hands at the same time you will feel something totally different. This means that the nerve endings from both hands are connected to the same area of the brain.
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