Chapter 6: The Great Heat Dissipation Debate and the Failed Seduction Attempt
"Sheldon," Penny said helplessly, handing him some of her knickknacks as he organized the shelves, "I just wanted a place to put my TV..."
Sheldon's organizational efficiency was remarkable. Within no time, the living room was completely transformed.
Clutter vanished, the floor gleamed, and even the couch cushions were fluffed and arranged at precise angles. Penny surveyed her transformed apartment and couldn't help but marvel. "Wow! Sheldon! This... this is amazing! Thank you!"
Sheldon accepted the gratitude matter-of-factly, as if it were merely routine. "You're welcome. Now, let me address this TV stand situation." He finally freed himself up and officially joined the assembly team.
Just then, Howard picked up the TV stand's back panel, examining the pre-drilled ventilation holes, and raised a concern. "Hey guys, once we cram the TV and cable box in here, heat buildup might be an issue."
Those words were like a match tossed into gasoline, instantly igniting the "engineering obsession" and "design passion" of every scientist and engineer present. The entire living room transformed into a heated technical debate.
Howard led the charge, gesturing enthusiastically. "Easy! Install two mini cooling fans! Drill holes here and here, USB-powered, quiet and efficient!"
Sheldon immediately fired back in his signature sharp tone. "Absurd! That solution is not only energy inefficient—requiring additional power and wiring—but will inevitably produce airflow noise. According to acoustic modeling, it'll likely exceed 45 decibels! That's equivalent to having a hummingbird perpetually buzzing in your ear during mating season! Completely unacceptable!"
Leonard tried mediating with a compromise. "What about... a liquid cooling system? Use a small aquarium pump, connect it to thin tubing, run it around the interior to extract heat, then use a small radiator..." He even grabbed a pen and sketched a rudimentary water circuit on the back of the instruction manual.
Sheldon glanced at the drawing, his expression theatrical. "Liquid cooling? Leonard, do you understand what that entails? A matching drainage system, an overflow reservoir, and an evaporation compensation mechanism! Plus you'd need to ensure absolute sealing and proper grounding to prevent electrical hazards! Are we constructing a miniature nuclear reactor cooling tower in Penny's living room? The complexity far exceeds the actual problem!"
David, watching the discussion spiral into absurdity, couldn't help interjecting. "Guys, aren't you overthinking this? These devices have built-in thermal management. These vent holes should be plenty..."
But his voice was drowned out.
Amidst the increasingly frenzied discussion, Sheldon suddenly threw his arms wide, as if announcing a major scientific breakthrough. "I've got it! The ultimate solution!
Completely rebuild the cabinet using aerospace-grade aluminum! Replace the wooden panels entirely, transforming the whole stand into a giant passive heat sink!" His excitement grew. He looked around for a whiteboard. "We need to calculate the required surface area... Approximately 2 square meters of 7075 aluminum alloy should suffice... Leonard, David, let's go buy the materials..."
Penny, arms crossed, had rolled her eyes multiple times watching these men argue endlessly around the still-unassembled cabinet. She finally lost her patience and raised her voice. "Hey! Guys! I think the heat situation is totally fine! I can handle it!"
The men turned in unison and shouted, "Hang on, Penny! The men are working!"
Sheldon was completely absorbed in his aluminum heat sink plan, beginning to mutter calculations about thermal conductivity and specific heat capacity. Penny stared at them, took a deep breath, then suddenly announced in a flippant tone, "It's getting really hot in here! I think I'll just take off all my clothes!"
However, her "seduction attempt" fell completely flat.
Sheldon remained utterly immersed in his aluminum heat sink plan, completely ignoring her statement, continuing to mumble calculations. "...The thermal conductivity of 7075 aluminum alloy is approximately 130 W/(m·K), significantly higher than particleboard's roughly 0.15, meaning thermal resistance will be dramatically reduced..."
Howard didn't even glance up, just impatiently waved his hand like swatting away a fly. "Hold on, Penny, we'll deal with your personal heat issues later! Sheldon, have you factored in the convective boundary layer effect? With purely passive cooling, you might create a heat stagnation zone inside the cabinet!"
Leonard seemed to vaguely register something and hesitated briefly. "Uh, did Penny just say..."
But his thought was immediately derailed by Raj—forcefully jabbing at a suspected vent hole in the manual and making urgent grunting sounds.
"Leonard!" Howard yelled. "Stay focused! We need to identify the primary heat sources and their wattage! What's the TV's power rating?"
"Oh, right, the wattage..." Leonard was instantly pulled back into the technical discussion, completely forgetting what Penny had said.
Only David caught Penny's expression—teetering on the edge of total exasperation—and her completely ignored "seduction." He watched Penny roll her eyes dramatically, her mouth silently forming what looked like "Oh my God."
The men still huddled around the cabinet, their arguments escalating, their proposed solutions growing increasingly outlandish.
Penny watched them, took a deep breath, her face a mixture of extreme frustration and grudging amusement. She finally gave up, shook her head, and silently picked up the TV cables and power cord, connecting everything herself.
When the men—their minds spinning with "engineering passion"—finally reached a preliminary consensus and were about to split up to acquire aluminum sheets and welding equipment, they suddenly realized Penny had, at some point, already connected all the cables. The TV stand they'd endlessly debated and somehow managed to assemble stood quietly in the corner.
A lively talk show played on the TV screen. Penny sat cross-legged on the carpet in front of the couch, hugging a bag of Lay's potato chips, happily munching away.
And beside the slightly warm TV sat a stuffed teddy bear she'd won at a Target raffle.
Apparently... heat dissipation wasn't much of an issue after all.
The men exchanged glances. After a moment of silence, they quietly gathered up the tools scattered across the floor and the instruction manual covered in frantic scribbles.
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