Answer: I am studying heat transfer and have learned there are three kinds of heat transfer: conduction, convection, and radiation. Some examples are:
Conduction:
Touching a stove and being burned
Ice cooling down your hand
Boiling water by thrusting a red-hot piece of iron into it
Convection:
Hot air rising, cooling, and falling (convection currents)
An old-fashioned radiator (creates a convection cell in a room by emitting warm air at the top and drawing in cool air at the bottom).
Radiation:
Heat from the sun warming your face
Heat from a lightbulb
Heat from a fire
Heat from anything else which is warmer than its surroundings.
Explanation: A good example would be heating a tin can of water using a Bunsen burner. Initially the flame produces radiation which heats the tin can. The tin can then transfers heat to the water through conduction. The hot water then rises to the top, in the convection process.
The atmosphere would be another example. The atmosphere is heated by radiation from the Sun, the atmosphere exhibits convection as hot air near the equator rises producing winds, and finally there is conduction between air molecules, and small amounts of air-land conduction.
