Answer: Thermal energy flows from a warmer material to a cooler material. When thermal energy is transferred to a material, the motion of its particles speeds up and its temperature increases. There are three ways heat is transferred into and through the atmosphere: Radiation, conduction and convection.
Radiation is when energy, in the form of electromagnetic radiation, is emitted by a heated surface in all directions and travels directly to its point of absorption at the speed of light; thermal radiation does not require an intervening medium to carry it. Conduction is the process by which heat energy is transmitted through collisions between neighboring atoms or molecules. Convection is heat transfer by mass motion of a fluid such as air or water when the heated fluid is caused to move away from the source of heat, carrying energy with it.
