Admittedly the question of derivation of a term like ‘Radiator’ might not arise outside our industry, but it is still incorrect. They do not radiate much, but convect quite a lot. The vast majority of radiators, irrespective of design, material or production, produce around 80% of their heat via convection and only 20% is emitted through radiation.
Radiators are heated by hot water and they in turn heat the air around the radiator, that movement of heat creates circulation, which in turn heats the area involved; this is the process of convection not radiation. And in brief ‘radiation’ is the emission of energy by one body, transmitted through an intervening medium and absorbed by another body.
They could be called anything really but the use of the term radiators is fairly specific, if incorrect. In the states they call them heaters, which is accurate if not specific. Clearly this is a moot point but to a physicist this is wrong nonetheless.
We use the terms like horizontal and vertical radiators, as opposed to calling them portrait or landscape. Why ‘Cast Iron radiators’ not called the ‘Victorian Design’ or ‘The Galli’ after one of its originators, I don’t know? Multi column radiators or trench heaters are accurate descriptions of their design, yet we are left with the core product of our business being called something pretty illogical.
Maybe we can think again, maybe we could call them ‘Heat Distributors’. Or maybe I’ll stick to ‘Radiator’ and forget about some nineteenth century inaccuracy.
