From: invalid@kmitko.at.list.dot.pl   
      
   RichD wrote:   
      
   > On January 26, 2021 Troll wrote:   
   >>>  How did they make ice, in the days before electricity?   
   >>>  And, did the inventors manage it empirically, without   
   >>>  education in thermodynamic theory? I admit,   
   >>>  without book learning, the compression/condensation/   
   >>>  evaporation cycle would never occur to me, it’s   
   >>>  far from intuitive.   
   >>   
   >>  Then before electric or mechanical refrigerators   
   >>  there was a matter of refrigeration in houses.   
   >>  If you start using the word 'ancient' however   
   >>  and compare it with 'classical' it is not obvious   
   >>  how far back that might go regardless of an official   
   >>  invention of refrigeration. There are other ways to   
   >>  preserve food.   
   >   
   > The most interesting question is whether it's possible to invent   
   > refrigeration,   
   > without studying Carnot, Clausius, and that crowd.   
      
   A lot of times in history theory came after practice :). The steam engines   
   were in operation decades before laws of thermodynamics were formulated (in   
   fact the reason Carnot started his studies is to increase the efficiency of   
   already existing machines), I see no reason why it couldn't happened with   
   refrigeration as well.   
      
   >   
   > Doesn't it seem like magic, as per Arthur Clarke's definition?   
   >   
   > Anyhow, I was reading a historical novel of S. Africa, the diamond   
   > mines, and as they prospered, a town elder says, "Pretty soon we're   
   > going to get ice delivered here."   
   >   
   > This was about 1880, and I wonder, where did the ice come from?   
   >   
   > --   
   > Rich   
      
      
   --   
   The generation of random numbers is too important to be left to chance.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)