A young engineer is asked to design a thermal protection barrier for a sensitive electronic device that might be exposed to irradiation from a high-powered infrared laser. Having learned as a student that a low thermal conductivity material provides good insulating characteristics, the engineer specifies use of a nanostructured aero-gel, characterized by a thermal conductivity of k_a = 0.005 W/m ∙ K, for the protective barrier. The engineer's boss questions the wisdom of selecting the aero-gel because it has a low thermal conductivity. Consider the sudden laser irradiation of

(a) Pure aluminum,

(b) Glass, and

(c) Aero-gel. The laser provides irradiation of G = 10 X 10⁶ W/m². The absorptivities of the materials are α = 0.2, 0.9, and 0.8 for the aluminum, glass, and aero-gel, respectively, and the initial temperature of the barrier is T_i = 300 K. Explain why the boss is concerned.