HNGlance

Top Best New Show

Penguins' coats are colder than surrounding air

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/21669963

by Patient0 • 13 years ago

2 1 13 years ago

BB

Related Stories

Loading related stories...

Comments

1

lutusp• 13 years ago

Unfortunately, there's no explanation given, and that would have been relatively easy. Because thermal radiation is often much more efficient than convection, surfaces frequently fall below the ambient air temperature by radiating their heat energy directly into space.

The phenomenon called "radiation fog" is a side effect of this -- the fog forms over a surface that becomes colder than the air above it by direct radiation into space, which causes condensation of water vapor in the adjacent air mass. If the surface was the same temperature as the air, this couldn't happen.

Radiation fog:

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/jkl/?n=fog_types

Source preview

bbc.co.uk

HNGlance

© 2024-2026 HN Glance. Story content belongs to its original sources.

Privacy
Terms