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🌡️ Thermoelectric Seebeck and Peltier Effects

Explore how a junction of two dissimilar conductors converts a temperature difference into voltage (Seebeck effect) and how an electric current can pump heat across that same junction (Peltier effect).

Physics & Mechanics3DModerate60 FPS

The simulator models a junction between two dissimilar conducting materials and lets you toggle between two modes: applying a temperature difference to observe the Seebeck voltage that develops, or applying an electric current to observe the Peltier heating and cooling that appears at opposite ends of the junction, making visible how carrier diffusion links thermal and electrical transport.

🔬 What It Demonstrates

🎮 How to Use

Choose the Seebeck mode and drag the temperature sliders for the hot and cold ends of the junction to see the generated voltage update in real time, then switch to Peltier mode and adjust the applied current to watch one junction cool while the other heats, noting how reversing the current direction swaps which side cools.

💡 Did You Know?

The Kelvin relations mean that any material pair engineered to be a better thermoelectric voltage generator is automatically also a better Peltier heat pump, so thermoelectric generator research and solid-state cooler research directly benefit from the same underlying materials advances.

⚙ Under the hood

thermoelectricityseebeck effectpeltier effectthermocouplesolid state physicsheat transfersemiconductorsenergy harvesting

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install