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Every summer I’m annoyed that I don’t have a great intuition for how A/C works. I’ve always known that it has to do with changes in temperature because of changes in pressure (because of the ideal gas law), but didn’t really get how the machines exchange/pump heat. But I got it:Permalink On twitter.com
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Imagine it’s hot out and you have a canister of high-pressure gas in your house. 1. Rapidly decompress it. The can gets cold. 2. Wait for it to warm back up. This will absorb heat from the room. 3. Take the can outside and pump it back up. It’ll get hotter than the ambient air.On twitter.com
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4. Wait for it to cool off to the ambient outdoor temperature. This will release thermal energy outside. 5. Bring it back inside and return to step 1. That’s it. That’s the refrigeration cycle. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vapor-compression_refrigerationPermalink On twitter.com
