From: dlzc1@cox.net   
      
   Dear RichD:   
      
   On Tuesday, February 16, 2021 at 3:55:13 PM UTC-7, RichD wrote:   
   ...   
   > The most interesting question is whether it's possible to   
   > invent refrigeration, without studying Carnot, Clausius,   
   > and that crowd.    
      
   Evaporative cooling was known.  The underground cooling passages in Iran have   
   shown evidence of ice formation, when the air's dewpoint is very low.  And   
   they had seen condensation (not freezing) with compressed air systems... not   
   much of a stretch to    
   refrigeration using air as the refrigerant.   
      
   > Doesn't it seem like magic, as per Arthur Clarke's definition?    
      
   Peltier cells do, for sure, even now.   
      
   > 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?    
      
   Easy, shipped from the South Pole, then via train over land.  Diamond mining   
   was very profitable.   
      
   David A. Smith   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)