70
If you put a toaster in a freezer, which wins? (www.youtube.com)
submitted 2 weeks ago by to c/xkcd@lemmy.world
17 comments fedilink hide all child comments
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 2 points 1 week ago* (2 children)

Even if the toaster had to work against air close to liquidification temperature, let's say around 82 K. Wouldn't the insulation capability and relatively small heat capacity of air hinder the heat transport away from the toaster enough to make toasting still possible?

Stone/ glass wool is called insulation wool for a reason.

I mean we use convection by fan to mitigate that effect. Ventilation systems use inverters with large fans. Even computer chips are cooled with heat sinks which have small or not so small fans on top.

I guess that's why he mentioned if not windy in one sentence.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 2 points 1 week ago (1 child)

    Yeah, I think wind is an enormous factor for this. If the toaster's heat is allowed to accumulate over time (i.e. low air movement), it would win no matter how cold the environment is, as long as it can start in the first place (I have no idea if it might fail for some reason).

    The rising hot air would create convection, but I am too lazy to look up the numbers for that to see how significant it would be. My lazy and uninformed guess is that it would be significant and slow things down, but not enough to stop the toaster from toasting.

    Another thing to consider is that a lot of the energy heating the toast is actually infrared light radiating from the coils. This radiation wouldn't be affected at all by the colder environment. But as soon as it turns to heat in the toast, it's just as susceptible to the air currents stealing away the heat.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 1 point 1 week ago

    Another thing to consider is that a lot of the energy heating the toast is actually infrared light radiating from the coils. This radiation wouldn't be affected at all by the colder environment. But as soon as it turns to heat in the toast, it's just as susceptible to the air currents stealing away the heat.

    You've stumbled upon the real question... Would the toast taste better or worse if you toast at a lower temp?

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent