Some peculiarities of the heat transfer through a sample that is heated by the superficial absorption of light energy under continuous uniform illumination are discussed. We explain, using a different approach to that presented in a recent article published in this journal (Salazar "et al" 2010 "Eur. J. Phys." 31 1053-9), that the front surface of…

The role played by physical parameters governing the transport of heat in periodical time-varying phenomena within solids is discussed. Starting with a brief look at the conduction heat transport mechanism, the equations governing heat conduction under static, stationary and non-stationary conditions, and the physical parameters involved, are…