Encyclopedia of Chemistry

In Thermodynamics, the thermal effusivity of a material is defined as the square root of the product of the material's thermal conductivity and its volumetric heat capacity.^[1]

Here, k is the thermal conductivity, ρ is the density and c_p is the specific heat capacity. The product of ρ and c_p is known as the volumetric heat capacity.

A material's thermal effusivity is a measure of its ability to exchange thermal energy with its surroundings.

See also

• thermal diffusivity
• heat capacity
• specific heat capacity
• heat equation
• thermal conductivity