Energy flux is the rate of transfer of
energy
Energy () is the physical quantity, quantitative physical property, property that is transferred to a physical body, body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of Work (thermodynamics), work and in the form of heat and l ...
through a surface. The quantity is defined in two different ways, depending on the context:
# Total rate of energy transfer (not per unit area); SI units: W = J⋅s
−1.
#
Specific rate of energy transfer (total normalized per unit area);
SI unit
The International System of Units, internationally known by the abbreviation SI (from French ), is the modern form of the metric system and the world's most widely used system of units of measurement, system of measurement. It is the only system ...
s: W⋅m
−2 = J⋅m
−2⋅s
−1:
#* This is a
vector quantity, its components being determined in terms of the normal (perpendicular) direction to the surface of measurement.
#* This is sometimes called ''energy
flux density
Flux describes any effect that appears to pass or travel (whether it actually moves or not) through a surface or substance. Flux is a concept in applied mathematics and vector calculus which has many applications in physics. For transport phenom ...
'', to distinguish it from the first definition.
#*
Radiative flux,
heat flux
In physics and engineering, heat flux or thermal flux, sometimes also referred to as heat flux density, heat-flow density or heat-flow rate intensity, is a flow of energy per unit area per unit time (physics), time. Its SI units are watts per sq ...
, and
sound energy flux density (also
sound intensity
Sound intensity, also known as acoustic intensity, is defined as the power carried by sound waves per unit area in a direction perpendicular to that area, also called the sound power density and the sound energy flux density. The SI unit of inte ...
)
[https://www.acoustic-glossary.co.uk/sound-intensity.htm] are specific cases of this meaning.
See also
*
Energy flow (ecology)
Energy flow is the flow of energy through living things within an ecosystem. All living organisms can be organized into producers and consumers, and those producers and consumers can further be organized into a food chain. Each of the levels ...
*
Flux
Flux describes any effect that appears to pass or travel (whether it actually moves or not) through a surface or substance. Flux is a concept in applied mathematics and vector calculus which has many applications in physics. For transport phe ...
*
Irradiance
*
Poynting vector
In physics, the Poynting vector (or Umov–Poynting vector) represents the directional energy flux (the energy transfer per unit area, per unit time) or '' power flow'' of an electromagnetic field. The SI unit of the Poynting vector is the wat ...
*
Stress–energy tensor
The stress–energy tensor, sometimes called the stress–energy–momentum tensor or the energy–momentum tensor, is a tensor physical quantity that describes the density and flux of energy and momentum in spacetime, generalizing the stress ...
*
Energy current
References
{{reflist
Physical quantities
Vector calculus