The Thermoelectricity reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Thermoelectricity

Thermoelectricity is the conversion from heat differentials to electricity or vice versa. It is accomplished through the Peltier-Seebeck effect or through thermionic emission. It is the principle behind heat engines, heat pumps, thermocouples, thermal diodes, and solid-state refrigerators, etc. It can be used to electrically measure temperature, or to generate power from a heat source.

The heat from radioactive decay has been used to electrically power several space probes, in the form of radioisotope thermoelectric generators.

This article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This is the "Thermoelectricity" reference article from the English Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.