The heat transfer from thin wires to emulsions with a disperse phase formed from a liquid whose boiling temperature is much lower than the boiling temperature of the disperse medium was investigated. Experiments were conducted at atmospheric pressure on vertical and horizontal wires from 50 to 100 mu m in diameter with n-pentane/glycerine, diethyl ether/water, and freon-113/water and water/oil emulsions. It was possible to describe the experimental data obtained by one analytical dependence Nu = AArPrM(-1)[1 - exp(-JVt)]. The dependence presented was obtained from the proposed model of the chain branched activation of boiling centers in droplets of a superheated liquid. In this case the coefficient J acquires the meaning of the activation rate of these centers. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.