Final answer:
Boiling water in a pot involves conduction as heat is directly transferred from the burner to the pot, convection as heated water circulates and rises within the pot, and to a lesser extent, radiation from the pot's surface.
Step-by-step explanation:
When a pot of water boils, it illustrates the concepts of conduction, convection, and radiation. Initially, heat conduction occurs as heat moves from the stove burner through the pot by direct contact, causing the water at the bottom of the pot to heat up.
As the water near the bottom becomes hotter, it expands and becomes less dense than the cooler water above, leading to the movement of this hot water upwards and cooler water down towards the heat source, which is the process of convection. This continual circulation distributes the heat throughout the pot, allowing the water to reach the boiling point.
While radiation is a less dominant form of heat transfer in this scenario, it involves heat transfer via electromagnetic waves, such as when the burner emits infrared radiation. In the context of boiling water, radiation would be more relevant to the heat that radiates from the sides of the pot into the surrounding air.