Thermal conductivity heat flow may not be exactly the same as the direction of the thermal gradient. In metals, thermal conductivity approximately tracks electrical conductivity according to the Wiedemann–Franz law, as freely moving valence electrons transfer not only electric current but also heat energy. However, the general correlation between electrical and thermal conductance does not hold for other materials, due to the increased importance of phonon carriers for heat in non-metals. Highly electrically conductive silver is less thermally conductive than diamond, which is an electrical insulator, but due to its orderly array of atoms it is conductive of heat via phonons. The
Soil thermal properties Apart from the basic soil composition, which is constant at one location, soil thermal properties are strongly influenced by the soil volumetric water content, volume fraction of solids and volume fraction of air. Air is a poor thermal conductor and reduces the effectiveness of the solid and liquid phases to conduct heat. While the solid phase has the highest conductivity it is the variability of soil moisture that largely determines thermal conductivity. As such soil moisture properties and soil thermal properties are very closely linked and are often measured and reported together. Temperature variations are most extreme at the surface