Nanotechnology makes heating faster
Boiling water in a pot is a well known process. The heat from the bottom of the pot is transferred by a mixed mode of heat transfer. The burners which is used for heating purposes give off a huge proportion of their energy directly to the sorrounding air rather than to the heating vessel. By increasing the surface area more efficient transfer can be achieved due to the process of bubbles nucleating and rising to the surface, rather than by the temperature of the water.Researchers at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have discovered that by coating the inside of a pot with a microscopic layer of copper nanotubes they can increase the efficiency of energy transfer from the pot to the water it holds by an order of magnitude. Copper metal nanotube arrays are made by the supercritical fluid decomposition of copper precursors. The copper nanofur results in a 30-fold increase in the number of bubbles that are created as the water reaches boiling point. Water gets hot faster and also heating time is reduced considerably. This would be excellent technology for reducing parasitic losses in thermal energy transfer systems such as heat pumps, solar thermal electric power plants, as a conducting heat sink, such as a laser sub mount, for heat sinking dissipation and electrical grounding of high-power electrical components and circuits, such as a laser diode. Before such technology is used, nanotube technology would need to be economical for manufacture and require precise assembly. However, there are safety concerns in using nanotubes in this way, and testing should continue before we find these little tubes coating our hot-pot coils.