Editing Radiator (section)

{{Short description|Type of heat exchanger; radiant body through water or other liquids}}
{{About|radiators in automobiles, buildings, and electronics||Radiator (disambiguation)}}
{{More citations needed|date=March 2009}}
[[File:Automobile radiator.jpg|thumb|right|Water-air convective cooling radiator, made from aluminium, from a 21st-century car]]
A '''radiator''' is a [[heat exchanger]] used to transfer [[thermal energy]] from one medium to another for the purpose of cooling and heating. The majority of radiators are constructed to function in [[car]]s, [[building]]s, and [[electronics]].

A radiator is always a source of heat to its environment, although this may be for either the purpose of [[#Heating|heating]] an environment, or for cooling the fluid or [[coolant]] supplied to it, as for automotive [[#Engine cooling|engine cooling]] and [[Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning|HVAC]] dry cooling towers. Despite the name, most radiators transfer the bulk of their heat via [[convection]] instead of [[thermal radiation]].{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}