Intercooler 16 year service

[Roa, Greg]

I thought Brett was correct in this.  I have always been told that flat black objects radiate the most heat, which is why most freestanding fireplaces come in a flat black finish.  Now whether the paint insulates more than it helps to radiate heat, I don't know.  I suppose if I spent some time digging through my old engineering textbooks, I could figure it out.  Of course, it's no big deal either way as I think I'd just paint it to ward off corrosion.

Later,
Greg Roa
Cincinnati, OH
86' 4kcsq
93' 90CS
83' 944


>At 1:47 AM -0400 7/1/03, Huw Powell wrote:
>>>Oh, and if any of the paint comes off, touch it up lightly with some
>>>flat black paint; not only are you protecting the aluminum, but black
>>>colored items radiate more heat, a phenomenon called black body
>>>radiation.
>>
>>Actually, as I dimly recall from a physics course long ago, black
>>body radiation has nothing to do with that.  It has more to do with
>>the wavelength (or frequency) of photons emitted by bodies based on
>>their temperature.
>
>Hmm, it probably would have been more accurate for me to say it is
>DUE to a phenomenon called black body radiation.  Whups.
>
>Anyway, I don't think you have it right either- wavelength is a side
>effect of the kinetic energy of the atoms in the material, and a
>shorter wavelength does indeed indicate a hotter object(radiation
>starts in IR range, moves down to red, then yellow, etc...), but I
>don't think a shorter wavelength itself causes more heat loss.
>
>Here's a site which offers one explanation, though it feels simplified:
>
>http://newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/phy00/phy00507.htm
>
>B
>--
>----
>"They that give up essential liberty to obtain temporary
>safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Ben Franklin
>http://www.users.cloud9.net/~brett/