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Q:
what is the best insulator to keep an ice cube from melting in a container?
- william (age 8)
new canaan,ct
A:
Hello William,
Ordinary styrofoam is pretty good. It\'s an excellent insulator and inexpensive too.
Probably your best bet is a Dewar flask, commonly called a Thermos bottle. This device was invented by a Scottish physicist and chemist Sir James Dewar
in 1892. It consists of two bottles, one inside the other, with a vacuum between them. The vacuum prevents heat conduction through air. In addition the sides of the bottles are silvered to reduce heat loss due to radiation.
LeeH
(published on 05/16/2013)
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