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Joule heating
In electronics, and in physics more broadly, Joule heating refers to the increase in temperature of a conductor as a result of resistance to an electrical current flowing through it.
At an atomic level, Joule heating is the result of moving electrons colliding with atoms in a conductor, whereupon momentum is transferred to the atom, increasing its kinetic energy (see heat).
Joule heating is named for James Prescott Joule, the first to enunciate what is now Joule's law, relating the amount of heat released from an electrical resistor to its resistance and the charge passed through it.
10-26-2009 08:16:03
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The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details