Mechanisms of Energy Transfer

Category	Illustration	Description	Microstory	Equations	Questions/Links
Work		Transfer of kinetic energy by a force exerted over a distance	Requires macroscopic motion of the locus of the force interaction		Do stairs do work on you when you run up them?
Conduction		Transfer of thermal energy through a material	Mediated by uncoordinated microscopic motion/vibration of atoms /molecules
Convection		Transfer of thermal energy through fluid motion	Coordinated motion of fluid particle in response to temperature/density differences
Radiation		Transfer of radiation energy by electromagnetic waves	Oscillating electric and magnetic fields can also be treated as individual packets of energy called photons
Matter Waves		Transfer of energy by matter waves	Coordinated oscillation of particles
Matter Transfer		Transfer of energy by transfer of matter	Coordinate transfer of particles
Electrical Transfer		Transfer of energy by electrical current	Coordinated movement of electrical charges

References:

Energy and the Confused Student I: Work, J. Jewett, The Physics Teacher 46, 38 (2008).

Energy and the Confused Student IV: A Global Approach to Energy, The Physics Teacher 46, 210 (2008).