• penguin_knight@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    i’ve never thought about that before.

    isnt that untrue though given that objects freeze instantly in space? Also that would mean you would only need to heat the ISS (rip) once, during its conception.

    • Mikrochip@feddit.de
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      10 months ago

      What mariusafa said is correct, but I wanted to point out that objects in space do not freeze immediately. Dissipation via blackbody radiation is much slower than convection and it can take a long time for something to cool down without the latter. In other words, a vaccuum does function as a very effective insulator, which can sometimes make it more challenging to get rid of heat in space than it is to keep something warm. The ISS, for example, needs to use radiators to keep cool. The same goes for many (most? all?) satellites that are at least as close to the sun as the earth.

    • mariusafa@lemmy.sdf.org
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      10 months ago

      It’s just not true. Disipation by convection effect is one of the ways of disipating energy. Dissipation by blackbody radiation is where most of the energy goes.

      For example infrared heaters transmits most of it’s heat by radiation. Efficient heaters do not use convection mechanisms, well or not only.