High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Natural convection is a mechanism, or type of heat transport, in which the fluid motion is not generated by any external source (like a pump, fan, suction device, etc.) but only by density differences in the fluid occurring due to temperature gradients. In natural convection, fluid surrounding a heat source receives heat, becomes less dense and rises. The surrounding, cooler fluid then moves to replace it. This cooler fluid is then heated and the process continues, forming a convection current; this process transfers heat energy from the bottom of the convection cell to top. The driving force for natural convection is buoyancy, a result of differences in fluid density. Because of this, the presence of a proper acceleration such as arises from resistance to gravity, or an equivalent force (arising from acceleration, centrifugal force or Coriolis force), is essential for natural convection. For example, natural convection essentially does not operate in free-fall (inertial) environments, such as that of the orbiting International Space Station, where other heat transfer mechanisms are required to prevent electronic components from overheating.