Re: cooling

In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
 [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Henry Allen) wrote:

> It is well known that the rate of cooling of a volume depends largely
> on the surface area of that volume.

Not true. The shape of the surface is very important. E.g. radiation
from a black-body cavity depends on the area of the opening, not the
area of surface inside the cavity.

> So, direct application of most rate of cooling equations would imply
> an infinite rate of cooling. 

No. If you apply the equations correclty, which involves solving a
nasty 4-dimensional integral equation, you can't radiate faster than
a black enclosing sphere.

> It's entirely possible, then, to ...

I'm afraid not.

Charles