Would the temperature build up in a ceramic dome containing 3 million processors radiating 120 degrees F?

Question

I need to know if the temperature would add up to create and environment in which Freon would decompose into phosgene gas. (Yes, I know freon is illegal. I am asking this for a report)

Answer 1

As Mr. Spock on the Enterprise would say, "Insufficient information to answer the question." Temperature is a measure of average kinetic energy and not the total energy generated or radiated by a device. More specifically, we would need to know the number of Watts of heat generated by each processor/device. Then we would need to know the size of the ceramic dome. How close are the processors to each other, the volume of air inside the dome, etc. If the dome is the size of the Earth and the processor are miles apart, then obviously there would be no increase in temperature that can be measureable. If however, we assume that you want to know from existing known parameters of say an average Intel Pentium processor that creates an air temperature at 1 inch away from the process of 120 degrees F, and you place 3 million of them butt against each other, die-to-die and then encapsulate in onto a ceramic shell, then yes the thing would burn up, else you will need a really really big heat sink.

Answer 2

The temperature of anything goes up if more heat is being put in than is being taken out. Since things generally give off more heat the hotter they get, you can often figure out how hot something has to get before the amount of heat it is dumping out into its environment (because it is so hot) is equal to the amount of heat being put in. At that equilibrium point, the temperature will no longer rise.

The heat loss from the "dome" depends on several things including the surface area of the dome, the air movement on te dome surface, the area of the dome surface, and the temperature difference between outside and inside.

Knowing the temperature that the processors start radiating at does not tell you anything about how much heat the processors are putting out.

If the processors can not get above 120 F, then the dome will not go above 120 F.

Although you don't have nearly enough information in your question to estimate the equilibrium temperature, perhaps this answer can give you an idea how to proceed.

Although, if in fact, the processors will never get above 120, then you know the maximum temperature that would be possible. Something at 120 degrees cannot heat something else up above 120 degrees.

P.S. And freon isn't exactly illegal. It is highly regulated in some countries and it is illegal to produce some places. Even in the U.S. it is perfectly legal to use it in your air conditioner, although modern air conditioners use other fluids.

Answer 3

It would depend on the temperature outside the dome. Most ceramics are good insulators, but not perfect. Eventually the heat inside the dome would be balanced by the heat flow to (or from) the outside.