I was wondering about the history of refrigeration. Anybody know the who/when/where/how of its invention? Was it devised following Clausius and his theories, or did people figure it out empirically before that?
It's surprisingly obscure, given something so vital to our civilization.
-- Rich
Lots of information on the internet:
David A. Smith
On 2006-11-20 21:34 RichD said the following:
Tried Wikipedia?
Huh ? Vital to our civilization?
Before refrigeration, all the best real estate was protected by the heat and mosquitos. Now, hordes of uncivilized savages invade and erect high rises and pave over anything that will stay drained for over an hour.
Google refrigeration history: 1,140,000 hits.
The secone hit:
The History of the Refrigerator and Freezers
...
Which correctly defines what we call "civilization".
How many people will die without refrigeration of foodstuffs, both in process and delivered to our doors (or at least the local grocery store)? This defines "vital to our civilization".
David A. Smith
Great.
Obscure, as in 'not widely known'; 999 out of 1000 men in the street will know nothing, or less than nothing...
Even in the article cited, it doesn't indicate the provenance of the original inventions - which ones were motivated by the laws of thermodynamics? Of the others, how did they suss such a nonintuitive mechanism?
-- Rich
And they install showers, and iced drinks, and other unnaturalness. Luckily, Europe remains untouched by such savagery...
heh
A few years ago, following a storm here in Cal., there was a power outage lasting 2 days. People literally went out of their minds... they mobbed PG&E offices, dumping their rotted food, even assaulting the employees. Social breakdown, just TWO MEASLY DAYS without electricity!
The funniest bit was the garage door openers that failed. People couldn't extricate their cars from their garages... the perils of modern living...
-- Rich
999 out of 1000 men in the street do not know why it rains or why clouds have fairly flat bottoms all at about the same altitude and rounded tops. Probably 900 out of a 1000 can't name their national leaders or name all the states in their country. 999 out of 1000 men in the street don't know the difference between an electrical short and an open.
That knowledge of the the man in the street is minimal is hardly a measure of anything other than the failure of education.
Did you bother to read all the links in that one page?
Did you look at the other 1,139,999 other hits?
Since the invention is hundreds of years old, it is a bit late to ask the inventors their motivations.
Why do clouds have rounded tops?
Probably just in USA. How many states are there in Liechtenstein?
Darwin will take care of them...
'education' is a slippery word... is it measured by the number of inessential facts one has memorized?
I speed read about half, then my eyes ignited from the friction. Forgot to don my oxygen evacuated reading goggles...
Look up 'obscure'
-- Rich
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This one caught my eye. There is equipment that uses not only circuit breakers but also electropneumatic valves in pressure air ducts and solenoid valves in hydraulic circuits.
And guess what: when a valve is closed - there's no flow - and when it's open there IS flow!!
Ouch
Brian Whatcott Altus OK
I think it was Robert Heinlein who said "Any large city is only 2 days away from anarchy". ("The Moon is a Harsh Mistress"???)
The quote I recall (though I'm not sure it is from Heinlein) is "Any civilization is 3 meals and 24 hours removed from barbarism".
Mati Meron | "When you argue with a fool, snipped-for-privacy@cars.uchicago.edu | chances are he is doing just the same"
Yes it was, and he's right. Riots are anarchy. Then the looters take = over, and that happens in war, too. War is an organized riot. There are more "have-nots" than "haves" and when the disparity becomes too great the=20 result is violence.=20 Panem et circenses was how Juvenal characterized the imperial = leadership's way of placating the masses. The price of order is bread and circuses.=20 Moslems do not enjoy Western circuses but like Western bread, they have their own circuses. Lack of bread is a justifiable riot, but those = that=20 starve do not fight well.=20
| > dlzc wrote: | >> > > It's surprisingly obscure, given something so vital to our | >> > > civilization. | >>
| >> > Huh ? Vital to our civilization? | >> >
| >> > Before refrigeration, all the best real estate was protected | >> > by the heat and mosquitos. Now, hordes of uncivilized | >> > savages invade and erect high rises and pave over anything | >> > that will stay drained for over an hour. | >
| > And they install showers, and iced drinks, and other | > unnaturalness. Luckily, Europe remains untouched by such = savagery... | >
| >> Which correctly defines what we call "civilization". | >>
| >> How many people will die without refrigeration of foodstuffs, both = in | >> process and delivered to our doors (or at least the local grocery | >> store)? This defines "vital to our civilization". | >
| > heh | >
| > A few years ago, following a storm here in Cal., there | > was a power outage lasting 2 days. People literally | > went out of their minds... they mobbed PG&E offices, | > dumping their rotted food, even assaulting the employees. | > Social breakdown, just TWO MEASLY DAYS without electricity! | >
| > The funniest bit was the garage door openers that | > failed. People couldn't extricate their cars from their | > garages... the perils of modern living... | >
| > -- | > Rich | >=20 |=20 |
ar.net.nz...
That sounds like something from the NeoConservative Field Manual. "The Prince by Nicol=F2 Machiavelli Written c. 1505, published 1515 Translated by W. K. Marriott
1908"
leadership's
circuses.
[...]Sue...
I saw that you said something, but I can't be bothered to read it so=20 I snipped it instead. Probably something about 3.1 megabytes of=20 multiple integrals of inertial induction of the dielectrics from the=20 jungle telegraphers. =20 =20
savagery...
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