Re: principle of heat pipe? was Brazing of tungsten

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <FutureT-at-aol-dot-com>

In a message dated 8/10/01 10:26:27 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
tesla-at-pupman-dot-com writes:

> I have considered using an industrial "heat pipe" as a cooling element in a
>  static gap, but have not played with it yet. A heat pipe will have hundreds
>  of times better heat transfer ability compared to a solid copper rod of
>  equivalent size. At one time these were novel and quite expensive, but are
>  now very commonly used in many industrial applications. I sometimes
>  comeacross them as surplus.
>  
>  Scott

Scott,

What is the principle of the heat pipe?  Is there a liquid metal
inside or something that helps transfer the heat?  Can these
heat pipes be easily home-made?

Thanks
John Freau