EVE General Discussion

Sesame Street On:

EVERYTHING radiates heat as far as its temperature is above absolute zero.

A space RADIATOR is designed to RADIATE heat and it does so because its temperature is above absolute zero.

It really isn't that difficult to comprehend.

If above zero, then it radiates. Thus the radiators radiate and that's how they release heat to the environment -through radiation.

The only special thing going on with space radiators is how they collect heat from around the ship and radiate it more proficently than the ship's skin, which is thermically insulated to prevent overheating from sunlight exposure (at least within in Earth's orbit).

…which is why everything we send into space has them. Oh wait, they do that because radiators do work in space — because they help radiate (hint, hint) away heat.
No. Space has no temperature. And if it did, by using the definition of heat transfer equilibrium, it wouldn't be 0°K.
Fun fact: the liquid inside will have cooled because radiation works there just as it does in space: it transfers heat slowly from a higher to a lower source. The reason it doesn't cool off as quickly as if it were a metal jug is because that jug uses conduction and convection — two overall much more efficient methods of heat transfer than simple radiation.

Space is not an absolute vacuum-- the interstellar medium still contains hydrogen/helium plasma, and a few atoms of hydrogen per cubic meter. And yes, the sun does radiate heat energy -- otherwise, our litte blue Marble would be about as inhabitable as Neptune.

http://www.universetoday.com/65353/what-is-the-coldest-planet-of-our-solar-system/

Read that article carefully: solar radiation. Before it leaves the sun, it's already radiant energy.

I respectfully suggest you brush up on basic physics before continuing this discussion.

Well the solar panels would certainly explain why Minmatar don't have any cap problems........

______________________________________________________________________________________

"Your Erebus is docked? How did that happen?" "It took a lot of pushing and grease....."

Just to be a nit-picky bastard, heat is the transference of thermal energy. Thermal energy is average of all the vibrating particles of an object. Radiant energy you feel from the sun on earth is the energy in the infrared spectrum that the sun outputs, along with the other huge range of EM radiation it puts out, largely blocked by our magnetosphere.

Thermal energy - Average of vibrating particles in matter
Heat - Transference of thermal energy, explicitly the energy being transferred, not the end result of thermal energy in an object (which is what we feel).

Radiation is inefficient, even in open, still air a radiator contacts the air and transfers heat by convection (which is really just conduction with a fluid that happens to move). Take away that air and you are left with pure radiation.

The only reason the sun is so warm to us is its sheer magnitude.

EDIT: To clarify, not just because it is huge but as something gets hotter the amount of energy that is released by radiation increases substantially. A large amount of low temperature heat (body heat radiation, heat from the spacecraft excluding energy from the engine thrust) is all very low but the energy from a red hot poker or the sun gives off a lot of radiant energy.

Regular operation of a CPU heatsink. primarily convection to cool it down, but heat it to the point of glowing red hot, it will be giving off much more energy through radiation rather than convection without changing the amount of fluid passing the surfaces at all.

I don't know almost anything about EVE lore, but if what people are saying about Minmatar using nuclear reactors is true, then the radiator idea still doesn't make sense. Yes radiators can radiate heat without convection, but on something like the ISS or the Apollo missions. The ISS does not have to radiate heat from a nuclear reaction. Radiation is so inefficient there is no way it would be able to effectively cool a nuclear reaction.

o_o Kind of scary how many people don't understand how heat is transferred though. Either way I will just pretend they are speed fins and all the Minmatar pilots are teenagers.

Well, duh! Minmatar ships are red! Red ones go faster!