Question

Why does the heat sink has fins?

(a) to provide cooling to the processor

(b) to provide airflow to the radiator

(c) to preserve the energy

(d) to provide radiator to the airflow

The question was asked in an international level competition.

This interesting question is from Transistor Case and Heat Sinks topic in section Differential and Multistage Amplifiers of Electronic Devices & Circuits

Answer 1

The correct option is (a) to provide cooling to the processor

To explain I would say: The heat sink has a thermal conductor that carries heat away from the CPU into fins that provide a large surface area for the heat to dissipate throughout the rest of the computer, thus cooling both the heat sink and processor.