Heat

and Mass Transfer

I never really thought too much about heat and mass transfer applications but this
class has shown me how utterly important they truly are. In simpler uses, I have
learned how people use heat and mass transfer on a daily basis. Heat transfer is part
of our human nature; babies curl up when they are cold and sprawl out when they
are hot to change their surface area to affect heat transfer appropriately just as
people cut up hot food for their kids to cool it down, utilizing properties of natural
convection. If a parent was to blow on hot food for their child, they are then utilizing
the concept of forced convection (Q=hAT). I didnt realize that I have been
subconsciously applying heat and mass transfer principles my entire life.

Along with elementary applications, Heat and Mass Transfer has shown me how
to apply these basic concepts to solve more complicated problems. I used to hear my
mom talk about the advancement of double paned windows and never really knew
what that meant. Double paned windows have air between the two panes thus
decreasing overall heat transfer as gases have a lower thermal conductivity than
#$
,
2
glass ( =
where ()*++ = and *01 = ). Another important employment of
%&

-.

3.

heat and mass transfer is burying pipes in the ground so they do not freeze the
winter, utilizing the soils properties for insulation. This notion is meaningful to me
because it is an example of how we as humans utilize earth to solve a problem,
which is what I hope to do as an ecological engineer. In addition to these, I have
learned how to determine the efficiency of an incandescent light bulb. With the
temperature of the light bulb and the wavelengths of visible range (0.4-0.76 m) you
<
:;
P
use the equation ( , = < A
where 2 = 3.74210O S A and U =
@A
;

<= (? BC D2)

QR /R

1.43810W ) to determine the percentage of visible radiation. On the mass

transfer side, Henrys Law is used to determine how much dissolved oxygen is
`&,abc c&de
needed for an aquatic species to survive (0,)0]^0_ +0_? =
where 0 = mole
f
fraction of dissolved gas, 0 = partial pressure of gas and H is Henrys constant).
Heat and Mass Transfer gave me an introduction to fluid mechanics. We learned
how to calculate Reynolds number and about properties of internal and external
flow. This provided a good basis for future classes such as Hydraulic Transport,
Natural Resource Conservation Engineering and Irrigation System Design. During
the infrastructure portion of my sustainability classes, heat transfer was discussed
when talking about construction of low-energy buildings. Properties of natural
convection are taken advantage of in order to heat and cool naturally. Heat and Mass
Transfer is already proving to be an important course in my curriculum.