Thomson effect definition of Thomson effect in the Free Online Encyclopedia.

Thomson effect: see thermoelectricity thermoelectricity, direct conversion of heat into electric energy, or vice versa. The term is generally restricted to the irreversible conversion of electricity into heat described by the English physicist James P.
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Thomson effect [′täm·sən i‚fekt]

(physics)

A thermoelectric effect in which heat flows into or out of a homogeneous conductor when an electric current flows between two points in the conductor at different temperatures, the direction of heat flow depending upon whether the current flows from colder to warmer metal or from warmer to colder.

Thomson effect

A phenomenon discovered in 1854 by William Thomson, later Lord Kelvin. He found that there occurs a reversible transverse heat flow into or out of a conductor of a particular metal, the direction depending upon whether a longitudinal electric current flows from colder to warmer metal or from warmer to colder. Any temperature gradient previously existing in the conductor is thus modified if a current is turned on. The Thomson effect does not occur in a current-carrying conductor which is initially at uniform temperature. See Thermoelectricity