Space Shuttle Thermal Tiles [VIDEO]

[Kunzite]

Stumbled across this video, is too awesome to not share.

I hope this is the right section of KSP forums!

[softweir]

This is the right place, and it is amazing!

[rdfox]

No matter how many times I've seen this sort of demonstration, I *still* can't believe it...

[Kilmeister]

That's crazy, never seen this before.

[Jokurr]

Fascinating video but the guy doing the presentation has it backwards I think. Unless I'm hearing it wrong he says you are able to touch the tiles because they dissipate heat very rapidly. It should be the opposite, these tiles are a near perfect thermal insulator and dissipate heat so slowly that you can touch the tiles before any significant amount of heat is transferred to your fingers. When we feel hot things, it is not the heat we feel, but the rate at which heat is being transferred to (or from in the case of cold objects) our hands.

[Themohawkninja]

I saw this on Wimp.com a few hours a go, and I have a question.

Why can you touch the corners, but not the faces. I know that it's because they are much hotter, but WHY are they hotter?

[Jokurr]

The faces are the same temperature as the corners. The issue is that when you touch the face of the cube, the contact surface area between the cube and your fingers is much greater. This means more heat will be transferred in the same amount of time, making it feel hotter, and a higher risk of being burned.

[Kryten]

The corners underwent more initial cooling, simply due to having more nearby surface area. At least I think; that's what it looks like from the way the corners (and to a lesser extent the edges) rapidly stop being incandescent.