Thermal

adjective

To do with heat. A thermal camera is a camera that 'sees' heat instead of light. Thermal imaging lets engineers see which parts of a machine — or a mountain — are getting hotter than they should be.

Materials Engineering — Gertie
Go Deeper For parents & teachers
Relating to heat or temperature. In engineering contexts 'thermal' appears in many compound terms: thermal conductivity (how easily heat flows through a material), thermal expansion (how much a material swells when heated), thermal imaging (infrared photography that maps surface temperatures). Thermal monitoring is a core part of how volcanologists watch for rising temperatures at vents and fumaroles long before those temperatures become visible to the human eye.

Appears In

The Burning Mountain Chapter 2 — Lina Hears the Mountain Speak

"She crossed the yard carrying two hard cases and a thermal field slate tucked under her arm. Her free paw brushed the surface of …"

The Burning Mountain Chapter 2 — Lina Hears the Mountain Speak

"… conditions they were not designed for. Ash kept filming the contacts. The thermal strip reader gave her three contradictory results before she found a clean angle. …"

The Burning Mountain Chapter 2 — Lina Hears the Mountain Speak

"Then she stepped closer to the frozen image. Then to the map. Then back to her thermal lines."

The Burning Mountain Chapter 5 — The Hidden Road of Fire

"… tang of heated rock - she had been testing samples against the thermal vents on the way up."

See Also

Pressure Sensor Thermal Wand