So the heating system here just got turned on recently. We have a single pipe steam hydronic heating system. If we so choose, we can turn a knob and have steam flow through the rectangular fin pipe in the heating unit. Of course, with me and my roommate being endothermic, we have no need for the heating yet as it is not that cold yet. But apparently enough people complained that the steam system of the entire building was turned on. (It was probably those people from the warm climates with the lower metabolic rates.)
Remember though, we are given a single knob (metal, by the way, so it always burns to touch) that controls how much steam flows through the pipe.if the valve is turned all the way down, the superheated steam condenses on one side of the valve, creating a continual clicking noise from the liquid accumulation. Unless of course, high-velocity steam is shooting through the pipe. So one must replace the continual clicking noise with the progression of gaseous water and accompanying kinetic energy, no matter how unwelcome.
Unfortunately, outdated design in combination with the low specific heat of copper pipe means that with the 373+K steam in the pipe, the heating unit is hot (330+K) all the time and the knob can do very little about it, even with the valve cranked all the way closed.
The most effectively engineered part, though, is the convection system that effectively overheats the room every night. It’s nothing a forty year old window can’t solve. And as a delightful bonus, I get to hear the entertaining and uninhibited banter of late-night drunks, some of which have some hilarious stories to eavesdrop in on.
Feeling Chemical in your descriptions today? Why not submerge the nob in water somehow. It has a specific heat capicity of 4.18KJ/mol you know. Steam is only like 1.3something KJ/mol
Yay I’m a nerd.
Actually, it might also be a dense polished ceramic that has been under heat for a long time.
i kept waiting for you to blame larry, but it never came. i am disappointed in you, tommy
Tommy I’m using your website for an experiment, Ignore the next couple posts if they are a tangled mess of code.
tommy, put credits up. i want the fame i deserve!
nevermind, I figured it out on my own.
I had a whole xkcd reference planned out, with citation needed, in which i had a mla citation for your blog. Unfortunately i closed out of it forgetting to copy and paste the citation. So what I was going to say was
“(It was probably those people from the warm climates with the lower metabolic rates.) ”
were you referring to Abhi?
No. It was mostly aimed at people from Kentucky.