Refrigerator Cooling
Most recent answer: 12/21/2014
Q:
The second law of thermodynamics states that heat travels from hot bodies to cold ones. So, why does a glass of water get cooled by a refrigerator? I understand that the refrigerator compensates itself with the heat emanated from its back, but with what does the class compensate?Thanks!
- Luna (age 15)
Argentina
- Luna (age 15)
Argentina
A:
The glass of water is warmer than the surrounding air in the fridge. So that heat flow from water to air is just the normal passive process. The interesting part is the heat flow from the cold fridge to the warmer outside. That is driven by electrical power. The entropy decrease of that flow is more than compensated by the increase due to net heat generation by the refrigerator's power consumption.
Mike W.
(published on 12/21/2014)