3 ms·
What's the advantage of using the block of concrete instead of directly heating water? Water has a 4x higher specific heat capacity by mass, or 2x higher by vol
by dmurray 6y ago
What's the advantage of using the block of concrete instead of directly heating water? Water has a 4x higher specific heat capacity by mass, or 2x higher by volume.
- grandinj 6y agoI could be entirely wrong as to the substance(s) involved :-) I'm quoting from a memory of an article I read about 6 months ago, sorry. googling for "specific heat high energy storage material" seems to indicate that rock-type materials are used where air heat is required.
- dmurray 6y agoThey definitely are used in some circumstances. For example, a sauna uses heated rocks. This allows you to control the humidity separately and not have the water evaporate. I guess it would work just as well with sealed metal tanks of water, but rocks are cheaper and more traditionally available. And they can't leak. So I'm not doubting you, just wondering why an intermediary heat storage medium is preferred in practice. Maybe for some of the same reasons as the sauna.