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On 16 Nov 2005 at 9:12, Steve Jackson wrote: > 100 C is only 212 degrees F; I would think the valve filled with sodium > would have excellent thermal properties due to convection heat transfer > via the sodium. Not sure what the vibration would do to the convection > patterns though, I guess that is why I am an electronic tech instead of > a fluid dynamics engineer! A heat pipe works by boiling the working fluid, so it's the boiling point that's important. 900 C works out to about 1650 F, which would be bright yellow. I don't know for sure, but I really doubt that even exhaust valves work that hot. Just for fun, I looked up some other low boiling point elements: sodium: 900 C (1650 F) cesium: 690 C (1250 F) sulfur: 445 C (800 F) mercury: 356 C (650 F) phosphorus: 280 C (540 F) iodine: 185 C (333 F) bromine: 58 C (140 F) I don't know what the effects of these elements might be on steel, but I can't help wondering why sodium was chosen for this application. -- Jim Adney jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711-3054 USA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~