Air Conditioning--The Comfort Humans Have Been Seeking Since We Lived in CavesThere are different kinds of hot. What might start as "a bit muggy" can quickly progress to "hot enough to fry an egg." When it's really hot--the kind of hot where you stick to the seat of the car and feel like there's no air--nothing in life works. Eating and sleeping become a problem and biting people's heads off becomes an epidemic. The heat rises off the pavement in visible waves and all you can think about is moving to some place where it snows a lot. Humans were not designed to endure temperatures like that. We get heat stroke, we pass out and eventually we die. It's not pretty.
Luckily, we humans have never accepted the answer, "that's just how it is." We will invent anything we have to if it means avoiding discomfort in some way. Rather than moving to a cooler place or trying to positivly impact the environment to prevent global warming, we found a way to change the temperature in an enclosed space.
Cave men were the first to think of it. They looked for nice shady caves that they could seal up to get away from the sun. The rock was the first insulation and the underground stream kept things nice and cool. We've come a long way since the days of hoping we find something that works and instead we learn from the world around us and create the environments we want. It took us a few thousand years, but eventually we created air conditioning.
The science of air conditioning is rather brilliant and based on the natural world. When the sun beats down on water and it evaporates into water vapor, thermal units are used to make the change. Any time a substance changes from a solid to a liquid or a liquid to a gas, units of thermal energy are traded in the exchange. Air conditioners use a fluid-based system under pressure, sealed so that the liquid never leaves, to recreate the water cycle and utilize the thermal energy of conversion. The metal portions of the unit, which conduct temperature very well, get really cold when the thermal energy is used up. Blow air from the room over what is now a series of very cold metal fins and you chill the air.
For residential or commercial installation or repair of air conditioning units in Fort Worth, call a professional. Lay-people shouldn't try to fix something that complex and just living with the heat is not really an option. Depressurizing the system, leaking out all the Freon or perhaps suffering a severe injury are all more likely outcomes than accidentally fixing it. With professional help, that unit can keep right on blowing for years, and that's a much better option than looking for a cave in the suburbs.
About The Author: David Sexton is a part-time writer and expert. He enjoys discussing trends, contributing to publications, and playing music. Get more details about this article's subject: Tempo You can find his contact information on the author's profile page.