noun
definition
A tendency to diffuse
definition
A coefficient of diffusion; especially the amount of heat that passes through a given area in unit time
Examples of diffusivity in a Sentence
If Q is expressed in terms of this unit in equation (I), it is necessary to divide by c, or to replace k on the right-hand side by the ratio k/c. This ratio determines the rate of diffusion of temperature, and is called the thermometric conductivity or, more shortly, the diffusivity.
The velocity of propagation of temperature waves will be the same under similar conditions in two substances which possess the same diffusivity, although they may differ in conductivity.
No calorimetric observations are required, but the results are obtained in terms of the thermal capacity of unit volume c, and the measurements give the diffusivity klc, instead of the calorimetric conductivity k.
We thus obtain the simple equation k'(de'/dx') - k"(de"/dx") =c (area between curves)/(T - T'), (4) by means of which the average value of the diffusivity klc can be found for any convenient interval of time, at different seasons of the year, in different states of the soil.
For the particular soil in question it was found that the diffusivity varied enormously with the degree of moisture, falling as low as ooio C.G.S.
On some occasions, owing to the sudden melting of a surface layer of ice and snow, a large quantity of cold water, percolating rapidly, gave for a short time values of the diffusivity as high as.
Excluding these exceptional cases, however, the variations of the diffusivity appeared to follow the variations of the seasons with considerable regularity in successive years.
The diffusivity can be deduced from observations at different depths x' and x", by observing the ratio of the amplitudes, which is (x '- x ") for a simple-harmonic wave.
Rambaut's results were obtained with similar instruments similarly located, but he did not investigate the seasonal variations of diffusivity, or the effect of percolation.
Angstrom's Method consists in observing the propagation of heat waves in a bar, and is probably the most accurate method for 4 4 thehi 's ' 'so ' d 60 measuring the diffusivity of a metal, since the conditions may be widely varied and the correction for external loss of heat can be made comparatively small.
The extreme divergence of the resulting values of the diffusivity, including eight independent series of measurements on different days, was less than I %.
The measurement of thermal diffusivity by laser flash is an alternative way of determining the thermal conductivity of liquid alloys.