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Heat - Conduction (continued).
We have seen that heat conduction in non-metals is
slow.
Metals conduct heat
quickly.
If you do not know what is a
metal and what is a non-metal,
see the GCSE Chemistry site at The Periodic Table.
Metals have ions which are surrounded by free electrons.
These free electrons can travel
quickly and easily throughout the
structure.
The electrons transfer the heat
energy by colliding
with other atoms and electrons in the metal.
In the above picture, the
blue lines represent free electrons
and the red balls are metal atoms.
It is the presence of free electrons
which makes metals
good conductors of electricity as well as heat.
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