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===Method===
To determine the number of lumps, the [[Biot number]] (Bi), a dimensionless parameter of the system, is used. Bi is defined as the ratio of the conductive heat resistance within the object to the [[Convection (heat transfer)|convective heat transfer]] resistance across the object's boundary with a uniform bath of different temperature. When the [[thermal resistance]] to heat transferred into the object is larger than the resistance to heat being [[diffused]] completely within the object, the Biot number is less than 1. In this case, particularly for Biot numbers which are even smaller, the approximation of ''spatially uniform temperature within the object'' can begin to be used, since it can be presumed that heat transferred into the object has time to uniformly distribute itself, due to the lower resistance to doing so, as compared with the resistance to heat entering the object.
If the Biot number is less than 0.1 for a solid object, then the entire material will be nearly the same temperature, with the dominant temperature difference being at the surface. It may be regarded as being "thermally thin". The Biot number must generally be less than 0.1 for usefully accurate approximation and heat transfer analysis. The mathematical solution to the lumped-system approximation gives [[Newton's law of cooling]].
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The rate of cooling of an object depends on how much hotter the object is than its surroundings. The temperature change per minute of a hot apple pie will be more if the pie is put in a cold freezer than if it is placed on the kitchen table. When the pie cools in the freezer, the temperature difference between it and its surroundings is greater. On a cold day, a warm home will leak heat to the outside at a greater rate when there is a large difference between the inside and outside temperatures. Keeping the inside of a home at high temperature on a cold day is thus more costly than keeping it at a lower temperature. If the temperature difference is kept small, the rate of cooling will be correspondingly low.
As Newton's law of cooling states, the rate of cooling of an object - whether by [[thermal conduction|conduction]], [[
====Applicable situations====
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== Fluid systems ==
Lumped-element models can be used to describe fluid systems by using voltage to represent pressure and current to represent flow; identical equations from the electrical circuit representation are valid after substituting these two variables. Such applications can, for example, study the response of the human cardiovascular system to [[ventricular assist device]] implantation.
==See also==
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