What are heat sinks ?
Heat sinks are one of the most common forms of thermal management in technology, machinery, and even in natural systems.
A heat sink is a component that increases the heat flow away from a hot device. It accomplishes this task by increasing the device's working surface area and the amount of low-temperature fluid that moves across its enlarged surface area.
Heat can be transferred in three different ways: convection, radiation and conduction. Conduction is the way heat is transferred in a solid, and therefore is the way it is transferred in a heat sink. Conduction occurs when two objects with different temperatures come into contact with one another.
At the point where the two objects meet, the faster moving molecules of the warmer object crash into the slower moving molecules of the cooler object. When this happens, the faster moving molecules from the warmer object give energy to the slower moving molecules, which in turn heats the cooler object. This process is known as thermal conductivity, which is how heat sinks transfer heat away from the computer's processor.