Heatsink

From TheBestCaseScenario

..or a piece of material used to improve thermal characteristics and condition of something.

Usually made of a good thermal conducting material (metal: aluminum, copper, silver; plastic as a last resort), a heatsink does what it's name says: as water stays and goes down in a sink, heat will be absorbed by it and then released to the surrounding environmnet.

Heatsinks are designed to increase the surface of heat dissipation and allow certain chips or elements to function at least normally. They are glued or attached with wire clips or bolts.

Some images of classic heatsinks, where you can see what they have in common:

http://img54.imageshack.us/img54/2332/prosinkdk2.gif

http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/4900/goldheatsink3vi2.jpg

http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/4900/goldheatsink3vi2.jpg

http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/6403/heatsinkcmsockaawp7.jpg