refrigeration

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How did people keep food cold before refrigerators?

Components of a refrigerator. A compressor pressurizes the refrigerant gas, heating it and forcing it through the system. The gas cools and liquefies in the condenser, giving up its heat to the outside air. The liquid's pressure is lowered when it passes through an expansion valve, and there is an associated further drop in temperature. The cold liquid then passes into the evaporator coils, where heat drawn from the warmer refrigerator compartment causes it to vaporize. The gas is then returned to the compressor to repeat the cycle.

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Bar graph of the United States Death Toll during major events. Infogram chart.

U.S. Death Toll During Major Events

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Italian Renaissance painter from Florence. Engraving by Cosomo Colombini (d. 1812) after a Leonardo self portrait. Ca. 1500.

10 Famous Artworks by Leonardo da Vinci

Moonrise over Tucson, Arizona

Why Doesn’t Arizona Observe Daylight Saving Time?

Young boys working in a thread spinning mill in Macon, Georgia, 1909. Boys are so small they have to climb onto the spinning frame to reach and fix broken threads and put back empty bobbins. Child labor. Industrial revolution

The Rise of the Machines: Pros and Cons of the Industrial Revolution

Calendar marking march 15th

22 Questions About Time and Timekeeping Answered

airplane in flight (plane, aircraft, flying)

7 Puzzling Plane Disappearances

The Colosseum, Rome, Italy. Giant amphitheatre built in Rome under the Flavian emperors. (ancient architecture; architectural ruins)

New Seven Wonders of the World

refrigeration: Media

Videos

How did people keep food cold before refrigerators?

How did people keep food cold before refrigerators?

Learn how ice was harvested from the Illinois River system and distributed for home...

Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Images

Components of a refrigerator. A compressor pressurizes the refrigerant gas, heating it and forcing it through the system. The gas cools and liquefies in the condenser, giving up its heat to the outside air. The liquid's pressure is lowered when it passes through an expansion valve, and there is an associated further drop in temperature. The cold liquid then passes into the evaporator coils, where heat drawn from the warmer refrigerator compartment causes it to vaporize. The gas is then returned to the compressor to repeat the cycle.

Components of a refrigerator. A compressor pressurizes the refrigerant gas, heating...

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