The Heating Effect of Current
- When charge passes through a component, such as a resistor, some of the energy is transferred from the electrons to the component by heating, therefore increasing its temperature
- The energy will dissipate (spread out) into the environment via thermal conduction, convection and radiation
- This is used to an advantage to by devices like electric heaters
The heating effect of current can be used for many applications such as electric heaters
- However, wasted thermal energy makes a device less efficient and if too much current flows through a component, the heating effect can be very dangerous
- This can burn someone if they touch it or cause a fire