Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I need help making a heat reflecter

dear bluefox609,

I would be happy to answer your question, but first I need to know what kind of heat you are trying to reflect(for example: solar heat), what is the source of the heat, and where is the heat being reflected to?

I'm trying to reflect just regular heat, basicly i'm trying to keep a light bulb room temp. and reflect heat, so that way the light bulb will stay room temp.
Thats what i'm trying to do.

I'm trying to reflect just regular heat, basicly i'm trying to keep a light bulb room temp. and reflect heat, so that way the light bulb will stay room temp.

Most light bulbs (tungsten filament, flourescent, halogen, sodium, etc.) produce heat when illuminated. When illuminated, their surface is going to be hotter than the ambient room temperature air that surrounds them so you aren't likely to come up with a way to do what you appear to be trying to do.

You should do some reading on basic heat transfer (radiation, convection, and conduction) to understand how heat transfers from hotter areas to cooler areas.

Heat reflectors primarily affect radiation heat transfer and most light bulbs will transfer heat by all three basic heat transfer methods. A reflector can keep a passive surface (something that isn't producing or releasing heat energy) from getting hotter because of radient heat transfer, but the only thing it can do for a radient heat source is to reflect the heat back at the source or at something else and make whatever surface the reflection hits hotter.

Why are you trying to keep a light bulb cool?
1) More energy efficient lighting - then investigate LED lighting and other more efficient light sources.
2) Some equipment is getting too hot - there are ways to cool things by improving heat flow - read up on heat transfer.

If you are trying to come up with a good Science Fair project, I'm sure there are lots of interesting things associated with heat transfer. You should do some reading on the Scientific Method and coming up with a good question on this site to understand what it takes to make a good project.