Thermoelectric Effect

The thermoelectric effect is the direct conversion of a temperature difference into an electric voltage, and the reverse, and it covers three related phenomena. The Seebeck effect produces a voltage across a conductor when its ends are at different temperatures, the basis of the thermocouple; the Peltier effect moves heat toward or away from a junction of two different conductors when a current passes through it, allowing electronic cooling and heating; and the Thomson effect describes the heating or cooling that occurs along a single current carrying conductor placed in a temperature gradient. The Seebeck and Peltier effects are two sides of the same underlying process, connected mathematically by Lord Kelvin Thomson relations, and together the three effects underlie both thermoelectric generators that turn heat into electricity and Peltier based coolers that turn electricity into a temperature difference. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/