• ch00f@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Water turning into steam soaks up an enormous amount of heat. I assume that thermal runaway happens somewhere above 100C, right?

    CO2 extinguishers work by displacing oxygen, not by cooling.

    • nilloc@discuss.tchncs.de
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      2 months ago

      The rapidly expanding co2 does get very cold though. It’s not any different from freezing things with compressed air cans.

      I don’t hover, know which would absorb more heat per pound though. Someone who knows more math than I can do it though.

      • ch00f@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        If I’m reading Wikipedia correctly, it takes 348 Joules of heat to boil a gram of CO2.

        Water is 2257 Joules per gram. As long as you don’t need anything cooled under 100C, water is the way to go for cooling. It’s also a hell of a lot cheaper and easier to deal with than liquid CO2.