It acts as a barrier, keeping the heat outside the cooler.
How Does A Cooler Keep Drinks Cold On A Warm Day?
Well, a cooler is insulated box. This insulated material do not allow heat to transfer from outside to inside and vice verse.
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There are two different types of coolers:
Insulated. These coolers have thermal insulation that stops heat from outside the cooler from heating up anything inside the cooler.
Thermo electric. These have a solid state device that is able to transfer heat from inside the cooler to the outside of the cooler. These can work quite well but are always limited to a certain temperature differential, say 30 degrees. If the outside temperature was 70 then the best a thermo electric cooler could do was 40 (70-30=40) degrees. Not very helpfull when it is 110 out! But they can also be reversed to heat up the "cooler". They can keep food hot.
Insulated. These coolers have thermal insulation that stops heat from outside the cooler from heating up anything inside the cooler.
Thermo electric. These have a solid state device that is able to transfer heat from inside the cooler to the outside of the cooler. These can work quite well but are always limited to a certain temperature differential, say 30 degrees. If the outside temperature was 70 then the best a thermo electric cooler could do was 40 (70-30=40) degrees. Not very helpfull when it is 110 out! But they can also be reversed to heat up the "cooler". They can keep food hot.