Peltier-Seebeck effect
Okay kiddo, have you ever been cold and put your hands on a warm stone or heated metal and felt your hands getting warm? This is kind of what happens in the Peltier-Seebeck effect.
Imagine that you have a little device with two different types of metal: one side is hot and the other side is cold. These metals want to have the same temperature all over, so what happens is that heat moves from the hot side to the cold side.
When heat moves from the hot side to the cold side, it produces electricity. Did you ever have one of those shake flashlights where you have to shake it to produce light? As you shook it, it produced electricity that was stored and then used to create light. It’s kind of like that.
This movement of heat producing electricity is called the Seebeck effect.
But the opposite can also happen! If you send electricity through the device, the metals react differently depending on which way the current is going. This causes one side of the device to cool down and the other side to heat up. This is called the Peltier effect.
So, in summary, the Peltier-Seebeck effect is where you get electricity from a temperature difference between two different metals, or you create a temperature difference by passing electricity through those same metals. It sounds complicated, but it’s really just about heat and electricity working together!
Imagine that you have a little device with two different types of metal: one side is hot and the other side is cold. These metals want to have the same temperature all over, so what happens is that heat moves from the hot side to the cold side.
When heat moves from the hot side to the cold side, it produces electricity. Did you ever have one of those shake flashlights where you have to shake it to produce light? As you shook it, it produced electricity that was stored and then used to create light. It’s kind of like that.
This movement of heat producing electricity is called the Seebeck effect.
But the opposite can also happen! If you send electricity through the device, the metals react differently depending on which way the current is going. This causes one side of the device to cool down and the other side to heat up. This is called the Peltier effect.
So, in summary, the Peltier-Seebeck effect is where you get electricity from a temperature difference between two different metals, or you create a temperature difference by passing electricity through those same metals. It sounds complicated, but it’s really just about heat and electricity working together!