I read the wikipedia page and asked my dad – but I am honest: I don’t understand it.
In: Engineering
If you have gas in a closed container and try to compress it (squeeze the container), the gas will also get hotter because the molecules of gas get closer together and rub one another more vigorously, generating heat. So you used energy to generate heat.
If, on the other hand, you expand the container, the gas will actually get colder. So you just used energy to “generate cold”.
Such a machine is in the refrigerator expanding the gas, “generating cold”, absorbing the heat from inside of the fridge, and taking it outside to cool to room temperature. Basically you transport heat energy from inside to the outside by cooling the gas in one place, letting the gas warm up a little bit and absorb the heat of the inside, and let it out somewhere else. And repeat.
Latest Answers