"A" Level Physics

Transfer Phenomena

4.1.1 Transfer Mechanisms.

Introduction
This section of the course looks at the important concept of Transfer Phenomena. In particular
we will look at how mass in transferred by fluids, how charge is transferred in an electrical
circuit and how heat is transferred in thermal situations. You should appreciate the similarities in
the different processes and note the way in which a physical model may be adapted to model a
process in an entirely different situation. Each situation will first be dealt wth in turn then the
similarities will be looked at in the final section of this unit of work.
What determines rate of transfer of in each case.
Recall that rate of anything means per second, eg rate of charge transfer means amount of
charge transferred per second, rate of flow means volume of water that flows every second and
rate of heat flow means amount of heat energy that flows every second.
The determinant of the rate of transfer is the factor that determines how much of the
particular quantity that we are interested in is transferred every second.

Process

Determinant of the rate of transfer.

Charge Flow Rate.

Voltage or Potential Difference.

Mass Flow Rate.

Pressure Difference

Heat Transfer.

Temperature Difference.

4.2.1 Mass Transfer.

This section considers the volume of fluid flowing through a system of the mass of fluid flowing
through a system every second.
Equation of Continuity:
What goes in to system

(Probably the most fundamental idea in Physics)

+

whats created in the system +

What comes out

of the system

Rate of flow
Rate of flow

Volume of fluid flowing through a section every second

1

Equation

Rate of Flow

Area x speed.

Av

Equation of continuity applied to fluid flow.

Rate of flow in

Rate of flow out

Example 1.
A water pipe has a diameter of 2cm and is connected at a branch to 3 pipes each with a
diameter of 6mm. If the water flowing through the large pipe moves at 5m/s, how fast will the
water be coming out of each of the smaller pipes ?

Mass Flow Rate (for an incompressible fluid).

Mass Flow Rate

Volume Flow Rate x density

Modelling Fluid Flow

This set of notes attempts to define what is meant by a fluid, and how fluid flow may be
pictured. Fluid Physics can include problems of liquids running through pipes, oil flowing round
an engine or even the air flowing past the wing of an aircraft. As you can see the topic is one of
importance to Physicists and Engineers.
2

Liquids

Q How are they different to solids ?

Solids resist shearing

forces liquids don't.

Picturing Fluid Flow

It is simple to look at how particles move but more difficult to picture a fluid moving. One way of
solving the problem is to look at an elementary volume of fluid and sketch out the path or
flowline that it follows.

In this case the flowlines are continuous and referred to as streamlines

e.g. path of air past an aircraft wing

Note that the streamlines are closest together on the top part of the wing section. Where
streamlines are close together this indicates low pressure, see work on the Bernoulli Effect.

Types of Fluid Flow

Streamline Flow

smooth flow, speed and direction of elementary

volume same at a given point. Occurs mainly at
low speeds.

Turbulent Flow ..

erratic flow, speed and direction of elementary

volumes is unpredictable at a given point.
Occurs mainly at high speeds.

e.g. flow of air past a ball (important in sports science problems)

Viscosity
A fluid version of friction, a viscous fluid resists fluid flow and is important when going past an
object. Most obvious near a surface e.g. fluid flowing through a pipe this is where
intermolecular forces are largest. Gives rise to DRAG on objects.
e.g. Consider the fluid flowing through a pipe or channel.
The fluid at the centre moves fastest. In the absence of viscosity the velocity of the fluid at the
centre would be the same as that at the sides; the effect of viscosity is to cause the slow
moving surface layers to drag on the fast moving inner layers which in turn drag on the fastest
moving central layer.
Factors Effecting Fluid Flow.
What effects the amount of fluid getting through a pipe every second ?

Factor

Effect on rate of flow

Pressure Difference
across the pipe
Pipe Diameter
Pipe length
Viscosity
Nature of flow
"streamline/turbulent"

Newtonian Fluids
4

At this level we tend to consider a rather special kind of fluid known as a Newtonian fluid this is
a fluid that is (a) Non viscous (invsicid) (b) Incompressible, (c) Flow is streamline + irrotational.
The Bernoulli Effect
The effect links the speed of a fluid and its pressure. The faster a fluid is moving the lower
its pressure.
How can this be demonstrated ?
Consider a fluid flowing through a pipe with a constriction in it. When it is forced into the narrow
space A, the fluid must accelerate if the rate of flow throughout the pipe is to remain the same.
For there to be an acceleration there must be a net force producing it; this must come from the
difference in the pressure between the liquid in A and the liquid in B. Given that the fluid is
flowing from A to B there must be more pressure where the fluid is flowing slowest.
Applications of The Bernoulli Effect.
(a)

The Venturi Tube.

By measuring the pressure difference using a manometer the difference in the speed of
the fluid in two sections of pipe can be calculated.

(b)

The Aerofoil (i.e. how a plane / jet foil) flies (possibly but not quite the whole story !).

An aerofoil is a shape which is more strongly curved over the top than the bottom.
The fluid flowing past the top section must flow more quickly than the fluid across the
bottom surface.
5

Using the bernoulli effect, the fluid at the bottom must be at a greater pressure than
the fluid at the top, hence the force pushing up on the aerofoil must be greater than the
air pushing down hence it lifts !

What happens if you turn the aerofoil upside down ?

Then the opposite occurs and you have the shape that they have on the back of formula
one racing cars i.e. the car is pushed down leading to greater stability.
(c)

The Carburettor

Transfer Equation for a Fluid

Assuming viscous flow through a horizontal uniform pipe.

m
t

where

m/t
A

p
c
l

c ( A 2 / L ) p

is the mass flow rate

is the area of the pipe
is the viscosity of the fluid.
is the pressure difference across the ends of the pipe
is a constant
is the length of the pipe

Questions:
(1)

The equation for fluid flow may be written as

Q

r4 p
8L

where Q = volume flow rate,

P = pressure difference
L = length of pipe
= viscosity of liquid
r = internal radius of pipe

(This is the more usual form of Pouiseillie's law)

By comparing this with the equation above in the notes obtain an equation for c

(2)

Fluid flows down a horizontal uniform pipe of length l, radius r maintained by a

pressure difference P. State what would happen to the flow rate if the following
variables only were altered with the same fluid flowing.
(a)

The pipe length was halved

(b)

The radius was halved.

(c)

The pipe length were doubled and the radius halved.

(d)

The pressure halved and length and the radius were both doubled.

4.3.1 Charge Transfer.

Recall an electric current is due to the flow of charge carriers in a material. In a metallic
conductor these charge carriers are usually electrons. The outermost electronic shells of
atoms in a metal contain electrons which are easily detatched (THESE ATOMS ARE IONISED)
This ionisation leaves the material with a lot of free electrons which are free to wonder about
7

the lattice to take part in conduction. The atom that is left is said to be ionised and is now
referred to as a positive lattice ion.

Neutral atoms

Atoms are ionised

Positive lattice ion.

In the absence of a battery these free electrons would move randomly ( see work on
brownian motion). When a battery is connected across the material electrons are
accelerated towards the +ve terminal. However this flow is continually stopped as the
electrons collide with the positive lattice ions, and are then re-accelerated.

Material with free electrons

moving randomly.

Q:

Material with battery connected.

When a metal is heated (such as the filament in a lamp)

the resistance increases Why ?
When a metal is heated the electrons gain kinetic energy (they move faster)..wouldn't
you therefore expect the current to increase (ie lower resistance)...if only things were as
easy as that !
As well as the electrons gaining Kinetic energy the positive lattice ions gain energy and
vibrate with a bigger amplitude. This increases the chance of collision of the electrons
8

with the lattice ions. Since this effect is larger than the increase in the KE of the
electrons the flow of the electrons is reduced (current) hence the resistance increases.

Material before temperature is increased

After.

THIS IS KNOW AS THE ELECTRON-PHONON INTERACTION

4.3.1

Derivation of I = nAve

See class work problem for derivation

Values of Drift Velocity are generally very small in terms of mm/s.

Q:

Why if the value is small do we get flow of electricity as soon as a switch is turned on ?

Initially the electron is accelerated by field produced by cells / supply. The electron collides
with a lattice ion and stops. It then accelerates again till it hits another ion what we find here is
the average speed that it would travel with. The electrons are a little like a line of cars, if the car
in front moves the others move up to fill the gap, so at any point around the circuit an electron
is moving through it.
Questions

W & H 48.24 + 48.25

Conduction in Metals, Semiconductors and Insulators and fluids.

Metals

In metals the process of electrical conduction is due to the free electrons.

Insulators

In insulators the electrons are tightly bound to the atoms and thus there are little or no free
electrons to take part in conduction.

Fluids.

In fluids ions carry the current.

Semi Conductors.

Semiconductors is the name given to a group of materials between Metals and Insulators. They
only allow the conduction of electricity under certain conditions and are hence useful in
electronics where devices are required with resistances which vary under different light /
temperature conditions etc. Silicon and Germanium are two examples of semiconductors.
Comparison of Typical Resisitivities in ohm metres.

Insulators
Semiconductors
Metals

104
10-1
10-8

Process of Conduction in SC.

10

At 0K Silicon has 4 outer electrons which are used in bonding between neighbouring atoms. At
this temperature no electrons are available to take part in conduction. As the temperature is
raised sufficient energy may be given to remove an electron from its bond. This electron may
then take part in conduction.
As the electron becomes detached it leaves behind a +ve charge vacancy or a positive hole.
Therefore in SC there are two types of charge carrier electrons and positive holes. The
electrons move one way and the positive holes the other.

11

4.5.2 The Heat Transfer Equation

Basic Ideas

Solid bar with one end at temp and other end at

If > then heat energy will flow from to .

Equation
dQ
dt
ie

rate of heat flow

-kA

d
dx

constant x temperature gradient.

If the rate if heat flow is constant then the equation may be written as
Q
t

kA
l

Thermal conductivety (K)

Tells us how well a material conducts heat energy.
The rate of heat flow depends on

The material
the temperature difference between the ends of the material
the cross sectional area of the material
the thickness of the material

Temperature distance graphs.

12

This section looks at two types of problem.

(1)
(2)

A well lagged bar

A poorly lagged bar and

how the equation for heat flow may be used to predict the shape of these graphs
A well lagged bar
(1)

(2)

This bar is perfectly lagged

If lines of heat flow are visualised in the bar
the same amount of heat flows into and out
of the bar and through each part of the bar every
second
From
dQ
=
-kA d
dt
dx
dQ
dt

(3)

(4)

d
dx

But dQ/dt is same throughout the bar hence

d/dx is constant throughout the length of the
bar.
But d/dx is the gradient of the v x graph so a
constant gradient is expected.
A poorly lagged bar

(1)

(2)

This bar is not perfectly lagged

If lines of heat flow are visualised in the bar
then less heat flows out of the bar than goes in
every second
From
dQ
=
-kA d
dt
dx
dQ
dt

(3)

(4)

d
dx

So dQ/dt is bigger at the start of the bar than at

the end so d/dx is also bigger ath the beginning
than at the end of the bar.
But d/dx is the gradient of the v x graph so a
bigger gradient at the beginning getting smaller
is expected.

13

14