Eli5: What really happens when you change the temperature in an AC (Cooling) ?
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Two strips of differing metals which are joined (a thermister aka temperature sensor), flex when exposed to heat. Thanks to a very smart dead dude who was a total bro and wrote this down, we know how much heat makes the metal stripes flex for any given amount of heat. In a mechanical thermostat, you turn the dial and it moves an electrical contact so it contacts the strips at different points. Electricity flows through thee strips and through the dial mechanism, which is just a fancy switch that will stop making contact when it gets too cold because the strips will bend away from the contact.
This causes the AC unit to turn off and on depending on the temperature around it. Digital AC units do the same thing, just with a different kind of sensor. Most metals change their electrical resistance as they cool/warm. This can be used to measure temperature if you’re a very smart dude. Fortunately that dude was also a huge bro and wrote it down, so now anyone can just look up what voltage = what temperature, and build a circuit to keep track of that temperature, and also what temperature the user wants their space to be.
The actual cooling process is achieved by compressing one of a small number of fluids which absorb hella heat-energy when compressed. Much more than you make by compressing them. We then blow air across radiators full of that heat-absorbing stuff, which cools the air down by sucking heat out of it. The heat that’s absorbed is discarded by pumping the hot fluid to the other radiator, and letting it boop out into the atmosphere.
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