Eli5: How do refrigerators work?
In: Technology
Sensible heat is the heat you can read on a thermometer, latent heat is the heat required for a phase change ie (solid, liquid, gas). When boiling occurs in water let’s say, it will boil at 212 degrees (at standard pressure and temp). But not immediately, as it takes a significant amount of energy to go from liquid to gas. Your refrigerator uses a compound that boils at less than 32 degrees Fahrenheit, you run the “hot air” from inside the fridge over coils which contain that liquid, the refrigerant inside the coils boil and with it it absorbs a significant amount of energy from the “hot” air inside the fridge cooling it down
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