You should probably read the heat transfer
primer page first.
It gets up to 280 F (138
C) on the moon.
At high noon the average temperature of the lunar surface
can reach that temperature. But that's not the same thing as saying
it was 72 F (22 C) in Los Angeles today. The latter is air
temperature. The temperature of various surfaces in Los
Angeles might have been as high as 180 F (82 C). Air temperature has
no meaning on the moon because there's no air.
280 F (138 C) may be the temperature of the lunar surface material
at equilibrium in full sunlight, but it's not the temperature of any
random object in a similar situation. Objects will be heated to that
temperature only if they absorb the same amount of sunlight as lunar
surface material. More reflective objects absorb less light and are
heated less. Less reflective items may be heated even hotter.
Just as on earth, the temperatures at morning and evening on the
moon are lower than at noon. This is because the sun strikes the
surface at a more acute angle and therefore isn't as intense. The
lunar landing sites and times were chosen to be at early morning or
late evening at the site. This reduced the surface temperature at
those sites.
The physics term for this phenomenon is "form factor for radiative
heat transfer". Quite a mouthful. The meteorological term is "angle
of insolation" and it's why we have seasons on earth.
Putting something in
your oven and turning up the temperature to 250 F (121 C) is a good
way of simulating lunar surface conditions.
False.
Ovens work more by convective heat transfer than radiative heat
transfer. The heating element heats the air in the oven which in turn
heats objects in the oven. But on the lunar surface only objects in
direct sunlight or physically touching hot objects are heated.
Photographic film melts
at 150 F (65 C). Therefore you can't use it to take photos on the
moon.
This would be a problem only if there was a way for the film to be
heated. Since the film wasn't in direct sunlight it wouldn't have
been heated.
The only source of heat would have been conductive heat transfer
through the camera body, and only at the points where the film
physically touched the body or a connected part. Rolled up on its
spool inside the magazine it was relatively safe from conducted heat.
Hasselblad gave the lunar surface cameras a shiny polished metal
finish to reduce the amount of light they would absorb. They were
also fitted with thermometers so astronauts could monitor the film
temperature.
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