Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Water is inexpensive, non-toxic, and available over most of the earth's surface.Liquid cooling offers higher thermal conductivity than air cooling. Water has unusually high specific heat capacity among commonly available liquids at room temperature and atmospheric pressure allowing efficient heat transfer over distance with low rates of mass transfer.
Waterless coolant is most prominently used in the cooling systems for motorsports, classic car, ATVs, UTVs, snowmobiles and older cars. [4] Older cars often have non-pressurized cooling systems, and the water-based coolant can boil and overflow. Traditionally, this issue has been solved by topping off the radiator with water. This dilutes the ...
However, once water boils, it is an insulator, leading to a sudden loss of cooling where steam bubbles form. Steam may return to water as it mixes with other coolant, so an engine temperature gauge can indicate an acceptable temperature even though local temperatures are high enough that damage is being done. An engine needs different temperatures.
Though the water is hotter than the ambient air, its higher thermal conductivity offers comparable cooling (within limits) from a less complex and thus cheaper and more reliable [citation needed] oil cooler. Less commonly, power steering fluid, brake fluid, and other hydraulic fluids may be cooled by an auxiliary radiator on a vehicle.
A coolant is a substance, typically liquid, that is used to reduce or regulate the temperature of a system. An ideal coolant has high thermal capacity, low viscosity, is low-cost, non-toxic, chemically inert and neither causes nor promotes corrosion of the cooling system. Some applications also require the coolant to be an electrical insulator.
Proper engine coolant and a pressurized coolant system obviate these shortcomings of water. With proper antifreeze, a wide temperature range can be tolerated by the engine coolant, such as −34 °F (−37 °C) to +265 °F (129 °C) for 50% (by volume) propylene glycol diluted with distilled water and a 15 psi pressurized coolant system.
Get AOL Mail for FREE! Manage your email like never before with travel, photo & document views. Personalize your inbox with themes & tabs. You've Got Mail!
The internal combustion engine in most cars and trucks is cooled by a water and antifreeze mixture that is circulated through the engine and radiator by a water pump to enable the radiator to give off engine heat to the atmosphere. Some of that coolant can be diverted through the heater core to give some engine heat to the cabin, or adjust the ...