The thermal tiles of the Space Shuttle had to handle the enormous heat of atmospheric re-entry in order to protect the spacecraft and its crew. Despite being heated to over 2200°F and still glowing hot, the material is cool enough to touch after only a few seconds. This is possible because of the material’s extremely low thermal conductivity (contrary to what is stated in the source video).
The corners and edges of the cube quickly cool off after being removed from the oven because of radiative and convective heat transfer. However, because heat does not conduct efficiently within the block, it does not reheat the periphery very quickly. This allows the cube to be handled with bare hands while the center is still glowing hot.
Source: https://youtu.be/Pp9Yax8UNoM
#ScienceGIF #Science #GIF #SpaceShuttle #NASA #Thermal #Tile #Heating #Convection #Conduction #Insulator #Oven View Original Post on Google+
