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
Dear RichD:
RichD wrote:
Lots of information on the internet:
formatting link
Iran has used evporative cooling to cool their large public buildings.
Purportedly able to form sheets of ice in the tunnels under green space
used for evaporation. May or may not predate "compressing gasses".
David A. Smith
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.
Dear Sue:
Sue... wrote:
...
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
Dear David A. Smith:
dlzc wrote:
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
///
///
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
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"
|I think it was Robert Heinlein who said "Any large city is only 2 days =
away=20
| from anarchy". ("The Moon is a Harsh Mistress"???)
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
|=20
|=20
| "RichD" wrote in message=20
| news: snipped-for-privacy@m73g2000cwd.googlegroups.com...
| > Dear David A. Smith:
| >
| > 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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