Why Are Thermoses So Effective?

How do insulated cups keep your drink hot? Neil deGrasse Tyson, with the help of comedian Chuck Nice, explains the physics of heat transfer, insulation, and why your Stanley cup can keep your drink cold in a fire.

Learn about conduction, convection, and radiation. We break down methods to prevent heat transfer and how insulation works to keep the heat to one side. What does heat do when there is no air like in space? Plus, learn how the Apollo 13 mission used a trick with convection to save energy.

Check out our second channel, @StarTalkPlus

FOLLOW or SUBSCRIBE to StarTalk:

About StarTalk:
Science meets pop culture on StarTalk! Astrophysicist & Hayden Planetarium director Neil deGrasse Tyson, his comic co-hosts, guest celebrities & scientists discuss astronomy, physics, and everything else about life in the universe. Keep Looking Up!

#StarTalk #neildegrassetyson

00:00 - Introduction: Thermodynamics of Heat Transfer
00:25 - Conduction
3:12 - Convection
4:12 - Radiation
5:40 - Insulation & Preventing Heat Transfer
8:02 - Why Ice Water Survived in a Stanley Cup
12:00 - Heat Transfer in Space & Apollo 13
15:26 - Radiative Heat From the Sun

[johncayley]

I work in a warehouse.. I constantly attempt to explain these principles to my coworkers to no avail. They open the bay doors on our south facing building to cool off on summer days... But the suns radiative heat and lack of wind just make the whole warehouse hotter. It's infuriating.

[scott]

LOL my dad used to say "You trying to heat the whole outdoors of Alaska?!" 😆

[BenAt_it]

I’m so glad I was born in this time period to witness startalk🤩 Thank you guys🙏

[achaljoshi]

Idk about heat transfer, but you two have nailed KNOWLEDGE transfer ❤. Love and Gratitude 😘

[Qoride]

as a dominos employee for 2 and a half years, I've discovered a fourth type of heat transfer when I'm handling fresh pans hot out of the oven, it's called painful.

[shanelittle]

You're the man, Neil. Thanks for all you do and educating me more than I can put into words.

[bobair]

Again I learned and was refreshed in knowledge.

[YCIGAFSN]

Just last Tuesday I was explaining all this to a friend that is new to bush crafting and camping. He was having so much trouble keeping warm this winter even with all his gear.
I drew diagrams explaining conductive, convective, radiant heat transfer; told him what type of gear to use and how to set it up so that he would have absolutely no issues keeping warm even in zero degree temps wit just a small fire.
He went and purchased the items I told him about and he went camping on Saturday. He told me yesterday that he set things up just like I said and he had to take his jacket and extra layers off because it got so hot in the shelter.
He said he was down to his pants and a T-shirt and was still getting too hot and even had to step out from the shelter from time to time.
He always takes a thermometer with him and said that under the shelter it got to 109 degrees at one point and down to 12 degrees out of the shelter.. He didn't know what the wind chill was but he did say the winds were around 10 to 20 MPH.
Now he wants me to teach him all I know about survival.

[edwardcalvet]

Chuck was on a roll today, Hysterical.
Good one❤

[naga]

I am becoming smarter every time I watch your videos. This explains a lot of things that happen in our kitchen and in our daily lives. I wonder why I didn't get this in school. Last week, I was explaining to my colleague about his ignorance about following a regional calendar that doesn't include leap day every four years and all about under correction and overcorrection. His birthday has moved a week earlier in 25 years, and it's nowhere near the original date that he was born. Neil, you are a fantastic teacher; you inspire me to teach science to my daughter, and I feel Chuck is another reason why so many get both knowledge and entertainment at the same time. Like Jackie Chan, action and comedy at the same time. I love your duo. Please keep it coming.

[JDabc]

Chuck always shows up in his comedic yet informative rile with NDT.

[ben_clifford]

9:52 earned my like. This is why you have a comedian as your co-host. 😂

[shirleywest]

Dr. Tyson, listening to your blather is always an informative pleasure!!!

[mikep]

An excellent explanation, as always. Well stated, except the thermos is slightly different. The inner bottle is double walled mirror with a vacuum in the middle. (Fewer air molecules = less heat loss.) On rugged models the inner bottle is stainless steel instead of mirrored glass and it still works as well. Thermopane windows are sealed but don't use a vacuum. Argon or Krypton gas is often used because these gasses are slower in heat transfer. UV and IR can be blocked with a ceramic coating. Some windows instead used a suspended sheet of tint plastic to block UV and worked as a 3rd pane.

[Dandontlie]

I learned this from my textbook in chapter 4, but I'm glad there's always something new to learn that were not in the pages.

[brucepoppie]

Neil & Chuck,
Being old, I remember that the glass theromoes were known as :Vacuum Thermoses": as they has no air between the layers of glass. If you lost that vacuum their insulating ability diminished and by a lot. One wrong move could ruin your thermos. it having a thin walled vacuum bottle. As for the double paned window glass, the better window panes have an inert gas such as nitrogen between the panes.
Nice talk otherwise.
Bruce

[_Mute_]

Is convection really a legitamte form of heat transfer? I mean it physically moves hot particles around sure, but the particles themselves don't lose energy. Conduction and radiation actually transfer energy between matter, and convection just helps facilitate those. Would that be correct to say?

[clefairy]

Finally got to become patron last night after watching since Also my cosmo queries, astrophysics for people in a hurry book's get here Saturday along with my new telescope and

[The_Nonchalant_Shallot]

Ah yes, a StarTalk explaining the laws of Thermos Dynamics :D

[kewa]

Love these animations for illustration purposes. Keep it up