Pintalämpötilalla

Pintalämpötilalla (roughly “at surface temperature”) is a Finnish term used in science to refer to the temperature of a surface, as opposed to the surrounding air or the bulk of a material. In technical contexts, pintalämpötila serves as a boundary condition or a state variable that governs heat transfer across the interface between two media.

It is used across fields such as meteorology, building physics, electronics cooling, and materials science to describe boundary conditions and to interpret measurements at surfaces. The concept helps explain how heat can flow between a surface and its environment and how the surface temperature can differ from ambient air temperature or internal temperatures inside a material.

Measurement and accuracy: Surface temperature can be measured with infrared thermography or with contact sensors such as thermocouples and resistance temperature detectors placed on the surface. Factors such as emissivity, surface roughness, measurement angle, and transient response affect accuracy and interpretation of the readings.

Applications and implications: The surface temperature influences heat flux, condensation and frost risk, dew formation, and phase changes at interfaces. In buildings, wall surface temperature helps assess condensation and mold risk; in solar panels, it affects efficiency; in climate models, it influences near-surface energy exchange and atmospheric processes.

Related terms include surface temperature in general, skin temperature, and boundary conditions in heat transfer. The Finnish form can appear in sentences to indicate conditions at the boundary, for example describing how pintalämpötilalla affects a system’s behavior.