Air Conditioners: Coolest Idea Ever

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  • Опубліковано 2 гру 2024
  • All humans want to be comfy, but the first air conditioner wasn't built for us--it was for a printing press!
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    www.jstor.org/s...
    www.citylab.com...
    www.economist.c...
    content.time.co...
    www.crh.noaa.go...
    www.esrl.noaa.g...
    energy.gov/eere...

КОМЕНТАРІ • 1,1 тис.

  • @RJTheHero8
    @RJTheHero8 8 років тому +110

    I always assumed AC units used the same mechanics as a Refrigerator. The only difference is you put it by the window and preserve humans instead of food. :3

    • @Masterofworlds
      @Masterofworlds 8 років тому +51

      but humans are food

    • @nates9536
      @nates9536 8 років тому +87

      +Masterofworlds Somebody keep an eye on this guy

    • @Azathoth43
      @Azathoth43 8 років тому +10

      Soilent green is people!

    • @24680kong
      @24680kong 8 років тому +23

      The fluid cycle in an AC unit and a fridge are essentially the same in principle, the fridge just needs to get to slightly lower temperatures. An AC unit transfers heat out of the room and outside while a refrigerator transfers heat from the refrigerated space to the room.

    • @gregmiller9710
      @gregmiller9710 8 років тому +3

      ...it's all people...

  • @JimmyG01
    @JimmyG01 8 років тому +498

    Not a really big fan of this channel...
    Just a large Air conditioner

    • @mohaxorigins9762
      @mohaxorigins9762 8 років тому +10

      I am just investing in this comment.

    • @fireisgood8959
      @fireisgood8959 8 років тому

      HaHaHaHaHaHaHa

    • @RafaAnto
      @RafaAnto 8 років тому

      the puns....

    • @djoakeydoakey1076
      @djoakeydoakey1076 8 років тому +5

      I'm such a hipster, I was an Air Conditioner before it was cool.

    • @ZedJay23
      @ZedJay23 8 років тому +8

      Don't listen to the heaters listen to the fans.

  • @galamonkey
    @galamonkey 8 років тому +17

    As a Floridian, I really dont care what side effects the air conditioning has on the environment. I hate to be blunt, but if the thing ran on the blood of kittens and babies, Id be sitting here in the cold air crying about what I had to do to stay cool.

    • @lngvly22
      @lngvly22 8 років тому +3

      As a Floridian, I wholeheartedly agree. If AC ran on dangerous nuclear power and Mexican children, I'd still crank it down to 71 every day.

    • @ranchocommodorereef
      @ranchocommodorereef 3 місяці тому

      To be fair, iPhones are manufactured on employees under super harsh conditions and so are a lot of electronics and cars (where the employees are slaves and live in harsh conditions)

  • @JohannaHowes
    @JohannaHowes 8 років тому +12

    Dear Willis Carrier. You are my hero. Love Australia

    • @user-bj4lp3fr1o
      @user-bj4lp3fr1o 3 роки тому

      Check out Australian James Harrison. He worked with cooling and invented the world's first ice making machine at Rocky Point, Geelong, in 1854.

  • @Master_Therion
    @Master_Therion 8 років тому +66

    I would rather die than live without AC.
    "They may take our lives, but they'll never take our FREON!"

    • @genoobtlp4424
      @genoobtlp4424 6 років тому

      Master Therion who needs ac, if you have the skill to keep your house cool using your blinds?

    • @genoobtlp4424
      @genoobtlp4424 6 років тому

      padard what, I don't have AC

    • @genoobtlp4424
      @genoobtlp4424 6 років тому

      padard I live in Europe, where houses and summers have been a thing since who knows when (at least since the greek approximately 2500 years before AC was a thing), so people learned how to survive summer without AC… And they still know (actually I kinda hate AC because it's always put on freezing, so when stepping outside, temperatures are so much higher, the heat just hits you in the face pretty hard. Although I can understand the use of AC in cars, trains or planes because they can't be kept cool without or schools since different teachers have different habits that aren't compatible and classrooms heat up, but for homes… I would prefer skill over energy waste, but … (that's too insulting to write, but you hopefully get my point)

    • @genoobtlp4424
      @genoobtlp4424 6 років тому

      AC - the excuse for crappy architecture

    • @geetakhatri4591
      @geetakhatri4591 5 років тому

      Wow why dont u just make the temprature its not that hard u just have to click a button

  • @Knoxie00
    @Knoxie00 8 років тому +29

    It's summer up here in the northern hemisphere, which means rain, rain and more rain if you live in Britain

    • @JustGrowingUp84
      @JustGrowingUp84 8 років тому +1

      Well, at least you don't risk having a drought!
      Yay?

    • @TheHuckHD
      @TheHuckHD 8 років тому

      are you part of the EU

    • @Knoxie00
      @Knoxie00 8 років тому +3

      For the next two years, yes. After that, Armageddon.

    • @austindrapen8959
      @austindrapen8959 8 років тому +2

      sympathy from Washington.

    • @sirBrouwer
      @sirBrouwer 8 років тому

      +TheFilthyCasual no here there is the trouble of to much water. (I live in the Netherlands myself) almost all the north west of Europe has been extremely wet and up to being cold.

  • @erictu4900
    @erictu4900 8 років тому +41

    I used to be a fan.... Now I'm an air conditioner , thanks scishow!

  • @hcn6708
    @hcn6708 8 років тому +16

    Let us thank the Carrier for inventing the thing that made life in this region less bad.

    • @hcn6708
      @hcn6708 8 років тому

      the Carrier?

    • @Agentrock47
      @Agentrock47 8 років тому

      +HCN 27.0253g/mol invented in chilly buffalo ny

  • @SquareSquidStudios
    @SquareSquidStudios 8 років тому +16

    What?! You're telling me that air conditioners aren't cages for ice pixies enslaved against there will?!
    Then why have I been putting food in my air conditioner!~

  • @stevecannonenglish1472
    @stevecannonenglish1472 8 років тому +1

    Here in Arizona, most of us don't have air conditioning but still use evaporative coolers, a fan that pulls moisture through pads where evaporation occurs and cools the air, which is blown into the house through ducts. Very simple and it works very very well until we get our monsoon rains (like today) when the coolers don't cool very well as there is less evaporation, but we still run them to keep the air moving faster and cool us that way.

  • @ohsosmooth01
    @ohsosmooth01 8 років тому +3

    So this is where the name Carrier originates from! Just started in the industry in a wholesaler.

  • @jeremyandrews5167
    @jeremyandrews5167 8 років тому

    wasn't the most detailed explanation but to the average person who knows nothing beyond a thermostat I believe it's a basic understanding and little background history of how it all began. good job guys!

  • @iammrbeat
    @iammrbeat 7 років тому +6

    Aren't all decisions economic as long as scarcity is involved?

  • @MrF22guy
    @MrF22guy 8 років тому

    in sandblasting equipment we have to wear a helmet that supplies fresh air so we won't breath in the dust. On the back of the helmet, were the air hose connects to, there is a coiled tube. What the tube does, is that it uses centrifical force to 'sling' out the heat from the air before it enters the helmet. and it work very well.

  • @GoldenAircraft310
    @GoldenAircraft310 8 років тому +45

    Cause you're hot then you're cold
    You're yes then you're no
    You're in then you're out
    You're up then you're down

    • @sivalley
      @sivalley 8 років тому +7

      Go home Katie Perry, you're drunk.

    • @yippaindahood2642
      @yippaindahood2642 8 років тому +4

      we are very old

    • @sivalley
      @sivalley 8 років тому +1

      Yippa In Da Hood
      XDDD

    • @冬-01
      @冬-01 8 років тому +2

      NOSTALGIA TRIGGERED

    • @-TK-
      @-TK- 8 років тому

      was it a song about air conditioners?

  • @FourthRoot
    @FourthRoot 8 років тому

    Another extremely efficient evaporative cooling system involves desiccation. In short outside air is simultaneously cooled and dried using a deliquescent salt solution such as lithium chloride or calcium chloride. This solution is kept cool with a more traditional evaporative cooling system. The dried air then flows over a secondary evaporative cooler.
    A traditional evaporative cooler can't cool below the wet bulb temperature. With a heat exchanger or staged cooling, one can approach the dew point. However, with a desiccating system one can reach temperatures well below even the dew point.

  • @cameronj3999
    @cameronj3999 8 років тому +89

    Anyone from the UK will know that if the temperature rises above 20 degrees C(~68 degrees F), we complain that it's too hot.

    • @alexgulino335
      @alexgulino335 8 років тому +4

      It's been roughly 95-97 F(heat index of 115+) in my area the past couple weeks...

    • @bollybib678
      @bollybib678 8 років тому +4

      And that our 'summer' consists of a 2-3 day heatwave.

    • @guestapo520
      @guestapo520 8 років тому +1

      117f in my area

    • @djoakeydoakey1076
      @djoakeydoakey1076 8 років тому +1

      Other times we complain that it's too cold.

    • @HyperionNyx
      @HyperionNyx 8 років тому +7

      It was 17C a few weeks ago and I was literally dying.
      Got my big fan out and basically haven't turned it off since.

  • @vladimirvilliani6732
    @vladimirvilliani6732 6 років тому +1

    You could explain this to me all day and I still can’t wrap my head around it

  • @Scubadog_
    @Scubadog_ 8 років тому +33

    Meanwhile I'm sitting in 33 degree weather with no A/C.
    Groaning at the ceiling has become one of my main pastimes.

    • @agentrikamcgee
      @agentrikamcgee 8 років тому

      +Marco Onyxheart
      It's a lot worse here in the Philippines. Not only is 30+ degree weather considered average year-round, but we also recently had a long heat wave which brought temps to the high 30s and 40s. Worse, our climate is inherently humid so it felt like it was in the 50s. Sometimes it gets so bad that even air conditioning can't keep up anymore...

    • @crazilyawesome7599
      @crazilyawesome7599 8 років тому

      +agentrikamcgee It's almost 40 degrees here in Mexico. I feel y'all.

    • @adammoore7994
      @adammoore7994 8 років тому +5

      30 degrees! You shouldn't need a/c Turn the heat on.
      Just kidding I'm a free American and I don't use your communist manifesto that is the standard SI unit of measurement for temperature.

    • @crazilyawesome7599
      @crazilyawesome7599 8 років тому +1

      +Adam Moore Hey genius, some of us have to use both because our (US) system doesn't translate well l.

    • @Isaiahdhlee
      @Isaiahdhlee 8 років тому +1

      Not every country besides the US is communist :D

  • @sharrer2
    @sharrer2 8 років тому

    AC Tech here. I appreciate this video more than most. People don't understand how complicated ACs can get

  • @InstallaFriend
    @InstallaFriend 8 років тому +7

    I like these history-based episodes.
    Please, more of this man

  • @nydovideo
    @nydovideo 8 років тому +1

    The heat and humidity are HUGE problems in Florida.

    • @huaen8880
      @huaen8880 8 років тому

      Yeah... Try coming to Singapore, and you will know the true meaning of heat.

  • @johnclavis
    @johnclavis 8 років тому +24

    a rapid-fire delivery combined with inadequate diagrams made it pretty difficult to follow what they were describing. or maybe I'm just drunk...

    • @johnclavis
      @johnclavis 8 років тому +8

      Nope, just read some comments, and I see I'm not alone. Well, I *am* alone, but... you know what I mean.

    • @akhilp3559
      @akhilp3559 8 років тому +1

      +John Clavis lol

    • @gateoflion
      @gateoflion 8 років тому +2

      I feel you. I watched the video and listened closely but still don't know how AC works.

  • @SWLinPHX
    @SWLinPHX Рік тому

    As a longtime Phoenix area resident, I can't tell you how grateful I am for HVAC!

  • @xd_guy894
    @xd_guy894 8 років тому +3

    here in saudi arabia it's 40°-55° in the summer and people are drinking tea/coffe outside

    • @crazsomelizard6507
      @crazsomelizard6507 8 років тому +1

      That's cold

    • @TheAvgCommentator
      @TheAvgCommentator 8 років тому +2

      If you live in 19/20 of all countries in the world then that is extremely hot. 32 C = 90 F for reference.

    • @xd_guy894
      @xd_guy894 8 років тому +1

      DFssbm ikr

    • @mementomori5580
      @mementomori5580 8 років тому +3

      What is the Problem with that?
      Drinking something warm when it's hot is actually a smart choice. When you drink something cold, your body will have to heat it up so that it doesn't damage you inside, which in turn uses energy and produces heat, which you already have more than enough from the outside, which means that you're just getting hotter and sweat even more.
      But when drinking something warm, this effect doesn't happen so in hot areas drinking something warm is much better than drinking something cold.

    • @pancudowny
      @pancudowny 8 років тому +1

      Is that in Fahrenheit or Celcius?... You didn't specify.

  • @24680kong
    @24680kong 8 років тому

    As an engineer, I'd like to try to explain refrigeration so that it's a little easier to understand. Air Conditioning makes use of two mechanisms:
    1. Heat flows from hot to cold
    2. When a gas changes pressure quickly, it's temperature changes. Specifically, if it drops in pressure quickly, it usually cools. And if it rises in pressure quickly, it warms up.
    So let's start with the compressor: the refrigerant (the working fluid) is first compressed. This gives it the pressure needed to drive the cycle, but as described in point 2, heats it up, too. Now the fluid is hotter than the outside air. So heat moves naturally out of the fluid into the outside air. It then cools until it is close to the ambient outside temperature. This is done with heat exchangers inside the AC unit that touch the outside air.
    This hasn't helped us cool the inside of the building yet. But the next stage is throttling: using a narrow orifice, we can cause the pressure to drop significantly in the gas, which as stated in point 1, causes it to cool. This makes the fluid very cold, even colder than the temperature you want inside the house. So we can run a heat exchagner (similar to the one used on the outside) through the room, allowing the warm room air to transfer its heat to the fluid (again, heat flows from hot to cold). After which, it returns to the compressor to continue the cycle.
    In this way, an AC unit takes heat out of the room and transfers it to the outside. A refrigerator works similarly, only instead of moving heat from the building outside, it removes heat from it's refrigerated space and transfers heat to the room. You can use most gasses as refrigerants, but only a couple are actually efficient. Usually, to be efficient, it needs to partially liquefy after the throttling process (become so cold that it partially condenses). This makes the heat transfer process more consistent. This is why most refrigerants are weird chemicals: they need to have just the right thermodynamic properties to be efficient.

  • @ajaaniajaa
    @ajaaniajaa 8 років тому +3

    Cool video.

  • @Andrew-ep4kw
    @Andrew-ep4kw 8 років тому

    What the video doesn't mention is the real reason only certain materials are used. They have to be able to boil in the evaporator coil (the cool part) and condense in the condensation coil. Evaporation and condensation are called phase changes ( a substance change from say, solid phase to liquid phase - ice melting is an example of a phase change). Phase changes either absorb or release a tremendous amount of energy, depending on which direction you're going thermally. Another handy feature for an air conditioner is that during phase change, the substance stays the same temperature, regardless of how much heat it absorbs or releases. That means an air conditioner can reliably keep the evaporator (cool) coil just above freezing to get the maximum cooling without clogging up with frost. The boiling point is pressure related, so if your a/c is low on coolant, the lower pressure in the evaporator side will drop the boiling temperature below freezing, which is why a/c units that are low on coolant tend to ice up.

  • @WiredforThought
    @WiredforThought 8 років тому +477

    Hey person scrolling through the comments section! Have a nice day!

  • @FourthRoot
    @FourthRoot 8 років тому

    You'd be trading legally gray turf by doing this, but people who live close to a stream or creek can cool their house for next to 0 energy cost by pumping water through a closed loop that includes a passively cooled radiator submerged in the stream and a heat a fan driven radiator (though it's really a heat absorber) in the house. In some areas, local streams stay below 60 F even when the temperature outside reaches above 100 F.

  • @richardpowell4281
    @richardpowell4281 8 років тому +7

    Too many "cool" puns -_____- (still thumbs'd up)
    When I was in the Navy my LPO would always say "A/C plants don't "COOL" they REMOOOVE Heat!"

    • @adygombos4469
      @adygombos4469 8 років тому +1

      a.k.a COOLING

    • @sivalley
      @sivalley 8 років тому

      Brings me back to my 6th grade science class and the mind blowing lesson that there is no such thing as cold, only absence of heat.

    • @KK426LH
      @KK426LH 8 років тому

      +sivalley
      _There is no such a thing as a clock, only time showing machine_
      This is what you sound like

    • @sivalley
      @sivalley 8 років тому

      KK426LH
      There is no spoon

    • @MajorTurnip
      @MajorTurnip 8 років тому

      No, temperature depends on the amount of energy. No energy = "cold".

  • @SwitchFeathers
    @SwitchFeathers 8 років тому

    Magnets.
    The solution to literally every single problem.

  • @7chanconn7
    @7chanconn7 8 років тому +29

    Can you do a video about weeaboos and if scientists have found a cure yet?

    • @TessaBain
      @TessaBain 8 років тому +5

      You do realize the word originated from "Wapanese" (a slur against white people who liked Japanese culture), right?
      That means you're kind of being one by using the term.

    • @HercadosP
      @HercadosP 8 років тому +3

      Can we talk about your unicorns mating in front of a rainbow first?

    • @slimyfeet8696
      @slimyfeet8696 8 років тому

      +Hercados P. go check out filthy Frank's video........

    • @AfonsodelCB
      @AfonsodelCB 8 років тому

      +Tessa Bain no it doesnt? at most it means he is using the term correctly and insulting white people who like Japanese culture...

    • @TheBoundFenrir
      @TheBoundFenrir 8 років тому +2

      While I understand the sentiment, you can't "cure" someone's likes and dislikes. You can change them, sure, but a cure implies there is something wrong with being a weeaboo. And while you can argue "they aren't going to get laid" I imagine they know that. They have an interest in something outside the cultural norm for where they live. The only way that's bad is in how it influences their social standing.
      If such things could be described as bad in such a way that we needed a cure, then we'd also need a cure for patriotism. Which just sounds stupid.

  • @KreigsMarine2
    @KreigsMarine2 8 років тому

    you just proved that you know more about air conditioning than most of the guys that service them

  • @MrLinguist88
    @MrLinguist88 8 років тому +37

    By the way, according to some....people...air conditioners are sexist...yep...xD

    • @Rozwarty
      @Rozwarty 8 років тому +5

      Wait, what?!

    • @TheBoundFenrir
      @TheBoundFenrir 8 років тому +17

      iirc, the argument goes something along the lines of:
      1: Big businesses keep their buildings on the "cold" side of comfortable.
      2: Men's businesswear keeps them covered. When combined when the tendency for men to be comfortable at colder temperatures than women, this makes them ok with the cold.
      3: women's businesswear covers a much larger gammut, and further women are prone to wearing less insulating clothes (such as dresses). Combined with the tendency for women to be uncomfortably cold at temperatures that men find comfortable, this makes them very not ok with the cold.
      Therefore, anyone using an AC unit is sexist because they're "torturing" the women in the building in favor of making the men comfortable.
      Which is bullhocky. Businesses keep their AC unit set so low because that's the temperature computers run best at. The reason men's businesswear is more covering is because they've been dealing with that paradigm longer (and because modern men's businesswear inherits it's look from suits and tuxes). Women who are entering these areas are complain they can't wear their summer dresses because it's never warm enough once you're inside the building.

    • @ragnkja
      @ragnkja 8 років тому +5

      The AC itself isn't sexist. Calling it sexist when it only does what it's made to do is nonsense.
      By the way, part of the problem is that women's clothing tends to be made of thinner material (why?), and another part is that women are expected to wear skirts and thin tights ("pantyhose", for Americans), rather than the thicker trousers that cover the entirety of men's legs. Personally I deal with it by not wearing the thinnest tights (they rip too fast) and by pulling my feet up so that my skirt can keep them a bit warmer. Complaining that one cannot wear summer dresses inside makes as much sense as complaining that it's too chilly to wear shorts inside.

    • @ShadeSlayer1911
      @ShadeSlayer1911 8 років тому

      Can't women just wear suits just like the men? Wouldn't that be simpler than fussling with thin dresses and skirts and pantyhose and tights?

    • @ragnkja
      @ragnkja 8 років тому

      ShadeSlayer1911 Unfortunately, you still have the issue that women's clothes tend to be thinner than men's clothes. Why that is the case, I have no idea.

  • @GuyWithAnAmazingHat
    @GuyWithAnAmazingHat 8 років тому

    All these puns are giving me the chills.

  • @drevilatwork
    @drevilatwork 8 років тому +69

    WOW!!!
    Sorry, but i'm very surprised and disappointed at how bad Hank described how air conditioners work. For aomeone so well educated in sciences , this things should be basic and well known. The first and most important thing he should have streesed is that a boiling liquid cools as it evaporates or, more precisely, gas cools as it expands and gas heats up as it's compressed. Thermodynamics. That's the basic principle by which most heat pumps work. And the ac unit is just a one way heat pump. They dont mention nothing about this things. Really, very surprised and disappointed. This should be basic stuff for hank. Kind of makes me wonder about all the rest of the stuff i learned from his videos:(

    • @jujuria13
      @jujuria13 8 років тому +9

      I agree with you. I phased out with this poor explanation.
      In summary a coolant is a type of substance that transforms into different phases (liquid & gas) easily. The coolant travels in metal tubings which have fans blowing over them. The liquid coolant when comes into contact with a warmer room temp. will change to a gas phase. When it does this the metal tubing gets very cold. When fans blow over this cold tubing, it cools the room.
      Now outside the room you have a compressor that compresses this gas back into a liquid form. when this happens heat is released.
      Now the liquid travels back inside the room to take the gaseous phase. and the cycle continues.

    • @skrenos
      @skrenos 8 років тому +4

      I'm glad someone else agrees and was about to make a similar comment until I read yours. Hank has degrees in bio-sciences, and that, he is probably well versed. I consider SciShow as good a knowledge source as Mythbusters is.

    • @commentator3513
      @commentator3513 8 років тому +15

      It had to be dumbed down for.... well.....
      You get my point.

    • @vitamindubya
      @vitamindubya 8 років тому +2

      Hank said his TelePrompTer is what makes him seems smart.

    • @Rob-mr2pt
      @Rob-mr2pt 8 років тому +2

      Of course only you people would give a shit

  • @raviroshan2316
    @raviroshan2316 6 років тому

    this is great intel on ACs cause I gave a presentation on ACs and refrigerators and how they affect the surroundings. AND This video really helped thank you scishow And Hank

  • @Kyrator88
    @Kyrator88 8 років тому +6

    The AC is just a fridge, down to using Freon. You should have just said that. Also I find it funny no one in this country has an AC.

    • @guestapo520
      @guestapo520 8 років тому +1

      wat

    • @Edarric
      @Edarric 8 років тому +7

      What country is "this country"? You could be in any of 200+ countries with internet access.

    • @TheBoundFenrir
      @TheBoundFenrir 8 років тому +1

      presumably one of the small ones, if they know that no one in it has AC. Also, probably one of the poor ones, again because no one has AC.
      ...or potentially a particularly cold one, where you wouldn't use an AC, you'd use a heater.

    • @Kyrator88
      @Kyrator88 8 років тому +2

      TheBoundFenrir Scotland, so the third one.

    • @akonnema
      @akonnema 8 років тому +1

      +A bee there are only 196 countries in the world lol so how do over 200 countries have internet access?

  • @sandradevries3907
    @sandradevries3907 8 років тому

    When it hasn't stopped raining your whole 'summer' and you're like 'Why the heck would you need an airconditioner?'

  • @vitamindubya
    @vitamindubya 8 років тому +21

    Always think it's funny when people criticize capitalism. It gave us freaking A/C lol

    • @nickjohn2051
      @nickjohn2051 8 років тому +25

      No. Capitalism did not give AC. Innovation did. It takes great mind to think ahead and find solution. Capitalism just a method of wealth distribution and a bit skewed also. Pure capitalism is bad actually. Imagine there is no welfare, no regulation to combat corruption, combat pollution, combat profiteering and many more, the system will collapse just like communism.

    • @TessaBain
      @TessaBain 8 років тому +5

      "Pure capitalism is bad actually. Imagine there is no welfare, no regulation to combat corruption, combat pollution, combat profiteering and many more, the system will collapse just like communism."
      Too much nuance. You've probably just killed several people who are incapable of comprehending compromise.

    • @nickjohn2051
      @nickjohn2051 8 років тому +7

      +Chad Leach Well we still use capitalism. Just a mixed one with socialism. Depending which country you lived in. If you lived in China or India, profit is no 1 in business regardless of how to achieve it. Thats why china is no1 country with highest producing co2 and other green house effect. Manufacturing in China disregard human right (child labour, poor working condition). China ignore copyright infringment and trademark. Thats pure capitalism for you.

    • @ewan.cartwright
      @ewan.cartwright 8 років тому

      The Romans gave us great plumbing too. I guess their system of government was also a great idea that should be repeated, then.

    • @joshuamerchant2104
      @joshuamerchant2104 8 років тому +1

      @TheRecreator We kinda do, albeit a more updated version. They had, at least at one point, a primitive(by modern standards) democracy. Ground breaking at the time.

  • @expendablegerbil
    @expendablegerbil 8 років тому

    A few minor corrections:
    1) We don't use HFC's anymore either, we now use HCFCs. Although we're supposed to be phasing those out soon too. It's still anyone's guess as to what will come next.
    2) Heat Pumps still use refrigerants. The only different between an AC unit and a Heat Pump is that the refrigerant flow is reversible, so it can heat or cool your rooms as needed.
    3) Water cooled heat pumps still use chemical refrigerants, but instead of dumping the heat outside it dumps it in a water flow which then can be transferred somewhere else (e.g. geothermal heat pumps being dumped into the ground).
    4) Heat Pumps that use alternative refrigerants are theoretically possible (e.g. CO2 ) but the pressures needed to make it work are so high that they're very rare. CO2 is being used in some cases today but only in specific applications. You won't see them in your home anytime soon.
    5) Ammonia is still used in large industrial applications and ice rinks.

    • @ranchocommodorereef
      @ranchocommodorereef 3 місяці тому

      It's crazy that ammonia is used in large industrial applications and ice rinks. However, ammonia is toxic.

  • @radzewicz
    @radzewicz 7 років тому +4

    It seems that Hank merely read a very bad explanation that he himself does not understand. This was a very poor explanation of how an air conditioner works, its not even a good hand-waving explanation. One more BS award.

  • @jon2955
    @jon2955 8 років тому

    Air Conditioning takes heat from relatively small areas and sends into huge areas
    There are five parts to the most simplistic of air conditioners...
    the COMPRESSOR takes the low-pressure gaseous coolant (that just gave you all of your cool) from the evaporator and makes it a high-pressure gaseous coolant by grabbing the gas and squishing it
    the CONDENSER takes the high-pressure gaseous coolant from the compressor and makes it a high-pressure liquid coolant by removing the excess heat (so the coolant can condense into a liquid) and throwing that excess heat into the atmosphere
    the RECEIVER: takes the high-pressure liquid coolant and holds it until it needs to be used again, safely
    the EXPANSION VALVE takes the high-pressure liquid coolant and sprays it into a lower pressure environment by restricting its flow
    the EVAPORATOR uses the liquid coolant sprayed in from the expansion valve to absorb all of the heat around it so it can be taken to the compressor and ultimately sent into the atmosphere

  • @campshay19
    @campshay19 8 років тому +228

    as an engineer who knows how air conditioning works, this was a poor explanation on how it works.

    • @jasonspence
      @jasonspence 8 років тому +39

      I agree. The only way I was able to barely keep up was that I already know how it works.

    • @Primalxbeast
      @Primalxbeast 8 років тому +183

      I live in Florida and I'll take magic as an answer as long as the damn thing keeps working.

    • @Nosirt
      @Nosirt 8 років тому +7

      amen to that! i feel like i can fry pancakes in the pavement here in az

    • @camnew1602
      @camnew1602 8 років тому +4

      +Primalxbeast I also live in Florida and my air conditioning actually stopped working last week. A guy came in and refilled the Freon to get it running, but it inspired me to figure out how the system works.
      This was confusing and I wouldn't have understood it if I didn't already know.

    • @TheHuckHD
      @TheHuckHD 8 років тому +4

      how he explained it very well give one example where it was confusing

  • @generalgk
    @generalgk 8 років тому +4

    So... magic. Gotcha

  • @Inheritor1O1
    @Inheritor1O1 8 років тому +8

    "Too hot", what on earth does that mean? Here in the Netherlands we are oblivious to heat, it's just rain, rain and cold.

    • @Novenae_CCG
      @Novenae_CCG 8 років тому +8

      I know plenty of Dutch people who don't like it when it gets hot, over here. Not me, though. I like it when the sun finally shines in the Netherlands. For, like, two days.

    • @Vinyacardo
      @Vinyacardo 8 років тому

      I realize I don't even own a fan, and right now I'm quite happy about it, it's getting quite chilly (Denmark)... you guys in the States enjoy your summer!

    • @coolblobfish1799
      @coolblobfish1799 8 років тому

      +Vinyacardo but you're in the northern hemisphere

    • @Lolwutfordawin
      @Lolwutfordawin 8 років тому

      +Awesome Blobfish so is the us, all of Europe, the middle East etc. anything North of the equator is in the northern hemisphere

    • @FiNiTe_weeb
      @FiNiTe_weeb 8 років тому

      It's when there's too much heat, think when you touch boiling water but not as bad and all over you.
      kek

  • @meeeeeeauuuuuuuu
    @meeeeeeauuuuuuuu 8 років тому

    Finally someone said it clearly ... why compressing a chemical from gas to liquid makes it chemical cold .... coz it doesn't .. Big Thanks!.

  • @DummyAccount
    @DummyAccount 8 років тому +44

    But why do I have air conditioning around my anus?! :-(

    • @derekma6482
      @derekma6482 8 років тому +6

      That makes no fucking sense whatsoever

    • @SukottoSama
      @SukottoSama 8 років тому +10

      joke of a joke of a joke

    • @F22C1
      @F22C1 8 років тому +1

      +Derek Ma That happens with most jokes when broken down logically.

    • @TorquemadaTwist
      @TorquemadaTwist 8 років тому

      You like goose pimples on your pucker.

    • @youmaycallmeken
      @youmaycallmeken 8 років тому

      Why do you ask? It is a PRESCHOOL MENTALITY. It's the same logic as when a young child plays "the why game", asking why to every response in a seemingly never ending game. (Go ahead, ask me "Why?" and I'll take that as confirmation.)

  • @JaceTan-90
    @JaceTan-90 8 років тому

    Air conditioning is the best thing man ever made.

  • @Gcarrington820
    @Gcarrington820 8 років тому +4

    why not bring up the black man that invented it?

    • @phillyforever248
      @phillyforever248 8 років тому +12

      What does skin color have to do with it?

    • @soulchain247
      @soulchain247 8 років тому

      My thoughts exactly. But I think Frederick M Jones mostly patented things relating to Refrigeration.

    • @patrickmccurry1563
      @patrickmccurry1563 8 років тому

      Are you talking about the man that invented large refigerated train cars for transporting foods? If you really want to get bitchy we can back to Carnot or Stirling, so no need to stop on whoever not mentioning gets your panties in a bunch.

  • @valeria4
    @valeria4 8 років тому

    Sometimes I just listen to you cause your voice is so calming.

  • @crywhit4619
    @crywhit4619 8 років тому

    I didn't realize I loved the way this guy talks until I watched other videos where he wasn't hosting.

  • @antivanti
    @antivanti 8 років тому

    A friend of a friend moved from frigid northern Sweden to toasty southern California and built a very insulated typical northern Swedish house (red with white corners of course). People laughed at him at first but he saved tons on running the air-conditioning because once the house was cooled the heat couldn't get in.

  • @jbblue48089
    @jbblue48089 8 років тому

    Thank you for the video, Team SciShow! I'm starting to learn about heat engines, refrigerators, and entropy, and hearing it explained this way really does help. Also, I like your shirt, Hank. My girlfriend loves plaid shirts and I personally think they all look the same, but that shirt we would both want to wear.

  • @ZdsGaming
    @ZdsGaming 6 років тому

    Air conditioning is basically the only reason people can stand to live in Las Vegas where I'm at. Without it, the casinos would be so hot and muggy that they'd be basically be intolerable

  • @DaniPaunov
    @DaniPaunov 8 років тому

    The Air Conditioner! One of the _coolest_ inventions made!
    *pun intended

  • @mblastERR
    @mblastERR 8 років тому

    Best title for a youtube video ever.

  • @steve1978ger
    @steve1978ger 8 років тому

    Air conditioners are a mixed blessing. Huge amounts of energy are wasted by using them without thinking. In particular when architects do not consider the thermal properties of their buildings, giving them huge glass fronts and making them essentially greenhouses. Also offices are often cooled down way too low. I worked in a place where I had to bring a wool sweater in the mid of summer. Buildings are cooled throughout the weekend when nobody is even there. Large areas like foyers are cooled down. It's all a huge waste and goes beyond basic principles of sustainability. Also, air conditioning systems tend to spread germs throughout the building, this is a huge problem in hospitals. I considered having an air conditioner installed in my home last summer because it was terribly hot. In the end, I bought semi-transparent shutters to attach to the outside of my windows. Problem solved, at a fraction of the price, if you factor in the energy bill.

  • @AmsterdamHeavy
    @AmsterdamHeavy 8 років тому

    CONDENSED, CONDENSED into a liquid. The coolant is COMPRESSED when it goes back through the compressor as a vapor.The condenser is on the high (hot) side of the system, the compressor draws from the low (cool) side.

  • @jacobjamar
    @jacobjamar 8 років тому

    I worked at an a/c distributor a long time ago.. I've heard the old freon used, back in the day, was the best; like the stuff they use now won't even be placed 2nd, in comparison.

  • @justiniantbh
    @justiniantbh 8 років тому

    I hope there's a special place in heaven for Willis Carrier.

  • @BlurryShadows
    @BlurryShadows 8 років тому

    Came for the pun, stayed for the educational information

  • @TheAtheist92
    @TheAtheist92 8 років тому

    Never in my life have I been inside an air-conditioned building. And I don't even miss it, although I'm melting in my room every single day. Here in Germany, we've got streets and beer to cool us down! More fun and more energy/ressource efficient!

  • @12345TheRespect
    @12345TheRespect 8 років тому

    For some reason scishow has the tendency to come out with videos that answer whatever's going through my mind.

  • @818GCA
    @818GCA 8 років тому +1

    4 words...super heating and sub cooling.if ur an hvac techie you'll get it

  • @FourthRoot
    @FourthRoot 8 років тому

    In the southwest air conditioners could be a lot more efficient and have a much greater capacity by submerging the condenser coils in water which is cycled through an evaporative cooler whose intake and exhaust are ducted through a counterflow heat exchanger.

  • @videogyar2
    @videogyar2 8 років тому

    "A trip to the pool can help you keep cool." Cool!

  • @discountconsulting
    @discountconsulting 8 років тому

    Body core heat is generated largely by gut flora within the digestive system. Part of homeostasis involves adjusting digestion and diet to more easily achieve optimum body temperature. The more we trick the body's homeostatic processes into compensating for artificial temperatures, the hotter we feel in summer, and the more we sweat. The effect is the same for winter, when artificially warm temperatures lead the body to shirk natural responses to cold such as elevated muscle tension and increased calorie-burning for the sake of staying warm naturally. Reducing intervention in natural temperatures as much as possible stimulates the body to adapt as well as it can, which lets us feel more comfortable than when we fail to adapt.

  • @TubaBuddha
    @TubaBuddha 8 років тому

    I refuse to live an apartment without Air Con. When I moved back home, the apartment I got had none. I went and got a window one the first week back. It saved my sleep, life & sanity.

  • @plightmoreton5220
    @plightmoreton5220 8 років тому

    You're awesome Hank. I am the Ghost in the Recording.

  • @Rozwarty
    @Rozwarty 8 років тому

    I don't have an AC, so I just lie in my bed dressed in nothing but my underwear, groaning at the cieling and being bitten by mosquitoes.

  • @TheUltimateRare
    @TheUltimateRare 8 років тому

    This video gave me the chills

  • @CommanderLVJ1
    @CommanderLVJ1 8 років тому +1

    No reality: we don't care that you don't have the capacity to care...you work for us.;D

  • @Arushi701
    @Arushi701 6 місяців тому

    Seriously, though, may god bless the soul of Wills Carrier.

  • @synistersuicyde
    @synistersuicyde 8 років тому

    As someone who works in the HVAC field, I have to say that this is an extremely poor primer on ACs in general. The whole idea behind an AC is temperature and pressures for boiling and condensing. Think pressure cooker, up the pressure that water experiences and you will have water that boils above 100°C/212°F, lower the pressure and you can get water to boil at a lower temperature. Also, after the transition from CFCs we went to HCFCs such as R-22 with the HFC R-410a just recently (last 5-10 years) coming into its own.

  • @CasinoDuck
    @CasinoDuck 8 років тому

    It's always entertaining watching people who know nothing about air conditioning explain air conditioning.

  • @JazzyJacksJokeShack
    @JazzyJacksJokeShack 8 років тому +5

    I like the title :^)
    Also thanks for learning me some science :^)

  • @RIPcliff92786
    @RIPcliff92786 8 років тому

    I'm a heating and air conditioning technician/engineer. This was pretty good. The explanation of the refrigeration system could have been better though. The key people you're missing in there is the metering device, otherwise known as a thermostatic expansion valve in most cases. I won't bore anyone with the details. I just thought my point of view was worth sharing considering I do this for a living.

  • @tompov227
    @tompov227 8 років тому

    So I live in NY and it gets to usually 80-95 for most of the summer and about 100-105 in early to mid august and to me it's so crazy that Phoenix and Death Valley are like 120-130 in the dead of summer. The difference between a 50 degree november day and a hot june after noon is the difference between a hot june afternoon and a scorching phoenix summer

  • @mitchellhuse993
    @mitchellhuse993 8 років тому

    This is the most interesting video about air conditioners ever.

  • @PistonAvatarGuy
    @PistonAvatarGuy 8 років тому

    Swamp coolers are also a common way to keep homes and buildings cool in the southwestern US.

  • @WahDahTa
    @WahDahTa 8 років тому

    Yay Hank is back finally

  • @shortstackJMD96
    @shortstackJMD96 8 років тому

    The A.C. was for states in the sunbel: Southwest- Texas on west , South- Louisiana on east.

  • @HannahMontoya
    @HannahMontoya 8 років тому

    Thank you Mr. Carrier 🤗

  • @Urb4n0Ninj4
    @Urb4n0Ninj4 8 років тому

    I actually work with a company that deals with refrigerants, and there's a French company "Cooltech" I believe that has gotten magnetic cooling working for refrigeration purposes. No liquids, and supposedly zero Global Warming Potential.I REALLY hope to see it made for residential use soon.

  • @DrScrubbington
    @DrScrubbington 8 років тому

    "The future is still looking pretty cool, it just might be cool in different and better ways"
    *"PUNS!"* [laughs]

  • @mitchelllazarow5290
    @mitchelllazarow5290 8 років тому

    My dad works for Emerson, it's fascinating to see the process.

  • @kuhaku9587
    @kuhaku9587 8 років тому

    I can't live unless it's 18celcius in my appartement. Thx to the creator of this magical thing.

  • @JJAB91
    @JJAB91 8 років тому

    I want an air condition small and thin enough that it doesn't stick out of my window and act as a huge eyesore.

  • @christopher90
    @christopher90 8 років тому

    As a Norwegian living temporary in south Texas, yup, heat and humidity can really be unbearable!

  • @DigitalArchmage
    @DigitalArchmage 8 років тому

    At some point, Hank says "and when the liquid has received enough heat energy, it evaporates", which is simply false. The liquid turns to gas because of a pressure change at an expansion valve, and not from the heat it received. In chemistry there's a PVT chart (pressure, volume, temperature) the 3 of which together determine if a fluid is a gas or a liquid at any moment (so, not just heat goes into determining a state!). In fact, this particular incorrectness does a disservice to the topic of how an AC works this concept is so critical. The pressure lowering at the expansion valve causes MASSIVE cooling (it takes energy to decompress gas) which is the entire reason it's so cold in the inside coils. Then the reverse happens outside - an electrically powered compressor causes the gas to undergo a state change to liquid - this state change makes the liquid hotter than the hot outside ambient temperature. Again, the state change to hot liquid is by adding pressure, not by removing the heat - that comes immediately after it becomes a liquid. It's important that you make it hotter than the outside, which can be really really hot, hotter than the heat you'd scoop up without compressing the gas.
    Due to playing with the pressure (not heat!) of the coolant with a compressor and decompressing it, the cold is way cooler than the house, the hot is way hotter than the outside. Our heat goes along for the ride, but doesn't cause the ride.
    Here's an easy way to think about it: It's easy to demonstrate decompression taking heat (or "giving cold"). Play with a can of compressed air; Hold it upside down and make ice crystals form on whatever you shoot it at. What you don't know is that when they made that can of compressed air, it got really hot. The heat energy it gave off when they filled it up by compressing the gas into a liquid, this same fluid wants back when it decompresses later.
    How you pick a coolant is also interesting. You have to pick something that wont' freeze at the temperatures you want it at, and it has to be able to go from gas to liquid lots of times over and over without changing to something else in the process (like sludge buildup, or something equally as bad).

  • @philophos
    @philophos 8 років тому

    British people just here like, "Why would you need such fancy equipment for summer day?" That's right: summer day. Singular.

  • @Huli-Man
    @Huli-Man 8 років тому

    Living in Sweden in an 3 room apartment in a small town AC is for me most common in a car.. and sounds wasteful... but get in a big city i would go with the chill any day of the week.

  • @t850
    @t850 8 років тому

    ...it all seems so simple until you get to the absorption refrigerator where all you intuition fails you. You actually heat (boil) refrigerant to cool down the room...;)

  • @theone-so9br
    @theone-so9br 8 років тому

    Dr. John Gorrie designed a machine that created ice using a compressor powered by a horse, water, wind-driven sails or steam and was granted a patent for it in 1851. This is where Carrier got his idea from in 1902.

  • @ryantoomey611
    @ryantoomey611 8 років тому

    There are also air conditioners that use water which soaks into pads which a fan blows across. They use less energy and do not use any chemicals.

    • @ct6502-c7w
      @ct6502-c7w 8 років тому

      That's not a true air conditioner, that is called a "swamp cooler." And they are completely worthless if the humidity is too high.

  • @myopiniondoesntmatter8958
    @myopiniondoesntmatter8958 8 років тому

    I knew we had a heat pump but didn't realize it was better for the environment. Way to go us!

  • @mrbrightside3771
    @mrbrightside3771 8 років тому +1

    After watching this I still don't know how air conditioning works.

  • @MTI250
    @MTI250 8 років тому

    And things like electric fans or a trip to the pool can keep you cool
    but in many places you can just duck into an air-conditioned -building- room
    such a missed opportunity, at 0:18