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Originally Posted by SysCrusher
I believe the idea of alu dissipates heat better than cu came from the heat capacity of the two. The reason why cu will stay warmer longer is because it's heat capacity is more than Alu. Doesnt make Alu dissipate heat better Cu.
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Hmmm, maybe, but one would really have to not understand the nature of thermal transfer to come to that conclusion (based on heat capacity).
Assuming the exact same design for a copper and an aluminium heatsink/block.
The thermal gradient through the copper (for equivalent volume) is lower. The rate of thermal convection means that the surface of the copper and the aluminium that is in contact with the liquid/air must be, on average, equal.
So we're left with what's going on between the heat source and the point of convection, and how quickly the heat moves. The thermal conductivity tells us that it's harder to move heat through the aluminium, meaning that the heat source will be hotter than the copper over the gap to where the thermal convection is going on.
I think what may fool many people is thinking that heat energy (joules) equates to temperature (K). Yes, the two are related inside some material, but they are not interchangeable (without first applying per-material specific modifiers), and this is where the confusion arises.