what gets hot?

[Brady]

what actually gets hot? The bridge of the atomizer or the area under the atomizer?

 

[Kismayaz]

The coils get hot, it's the part under the bridge that actually heats the liquid.

 

[Brady]

OK -
so what is the bridge for?

 

[Hellen A. Handbasket]

Bridge mesh carries down e-liquid to the metal mesh under/around the pot. The bridge has contact with the filler in the cart and wicks the liquid.

 

[Brady]

So the bridge actually does not get hot at all except for maybe some residual heat from the pot.

 

[Hellen A. Handbasket]

That's right... but if you are huffing your e-cig... it'll get plenty hot, as will the metal tube side walls of the atty.

The bridge does sit above the heating wire element. There is a arched metal piece that is covered by the metal mesh that makes up the bridge.

This diagram was posted a while back by member Cantstop in another thread, and will give you a good idea of the interior setup of an atomizer (they were talking about having a plug in type atty, but this is a good representation of how everything sits inside):

Also, Exogenesis did a great layout of parts of a 901... if you haven't ever seen an e-cig taken apart, it is interesting:
http://www.exogenesis.co.uk/DSE901.jpg