clhs sciblog

“Researchers  at Cornell have calculated the exact mechanism by which diamond conducts heat, a breakthrough that could lend insight into many fields, including electronics.” This development could help heat management in electronics and, maybe even, heat flow in the earth. Read more here.

Diamonds are electrical insulators and it has a hgih thermal conductivity. They have figured out the interaction between the phonons and the diamond. Being able to predict this pattern could help them putting this into other objects. They would be able to change thermal properties of some objects to increase their thermal conductivity.