Estimating physical properties of materials is an important subject for all kinds of engineering problems. For example, civil and mechanical engineers must know the strength properties of steel and concrete in order to design a bridge. Similarly, chemical engineers often need to know physical properties of liquids and gases, and that is the topic of interest here.

This module uses molecular modeling to calculate thermal conductivities. You will learn what properties influence the ability of different materials to conduct energy, as well as how the thermal conductivity can be calculated from knowledge of the molecular-level structure and energetics of the material. Using an interactive simulation applet, the module attempts to strengthen the link between traditional macroscopic engineering approaches to heat transfer and concepts from kinetic theory and physical chemistry. Other modules in this series investigate thermodynamic properties, and this module looks at thermal conductivity, a transport property, as well as a brief discussion of diffusion coefficients.

Follow the links to begin exploring; they do not have to be read in a particular order.