The Advent of Mechanical Refrigeration Alters Daily Life and National Economies Throughout the World
Overview
People have taken advantage of natural refrigeration for thousands of years. Caves, holes dug in the ground, springs, ice and snow, and evaporative cooling have all been used to cool food and drinks. Natural refrigeration, however, has limitations. Its availability depends on location and weather conditions, and it has never been adequate to chill large quantities for long periods of time. The scientific study of thermodynamics and chemistry that began in the seventeenth century, accompanied by advances in manufacturing technology, led to the birth of the mechanical refrigeration industry in the nineteenth century.
Background
An Egyptian fresco from 2500 B.C. shows slaves fanning water jars, an early record of human efforts at cooling. The people of ancient Egyptand India knew how to make ice by exposing jars of water to the clear night air. While both societies credited supernatural forces for this phenomenon, it was a combination of evaporative cooling through the porous jars and radiational cooling into the night sky that chilled the water and froze its surface.
A Chinese poem to the Great One of Cold written around 1175 B.C. describes harvesting ice and storing it in a cave.
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