Within the object, yes, density should play a part. The question
should be heat transfer to the surroundings. At the molecular
level, it is how fast heat energy is transferred from the molecules
of the object to the gas molecules.
In convection currents, I thought initially that mass should
play more. This is because the internal energy of a gas is due to
the solely due to the speeds of the gas molecules. And the energy
of the molecule is related to temperature by the equation 3/2 k T,
where k is the boltzmann's constant.
Also, speed of molecules = 1/2 m v^2
So we can equate 1/2 m v^2 to 3/2 kT, giving us v = sqrt
(3KT/m)
* Not sure if I remember all the equations proprely*
That's the only reason so far I can think of on why mass is
related to convection currents. The reason why convection currents
occur is due to density of the different temperatures of the gas,
and not because of the density of the gas itself at r.t.p.
Then if mass play a part, given density is also based on the
mass at a given volume, then density should play a part as
well...
But apparently the density of a substance at rtp/stp does play a
part in convection current strength, but I'm not completely sure,
so....hopefully someone will enlighten me on that.
