What does this system need to work?
Labs / General Knowledge
How Refrigerators Cool
A refrigerator does not create cold. It uses a circulating fluid and a compressor to collect heat inside the cabinet and release that heat into the room.
Labs / General Knowledge / How Refrigerators Cool
How Refrigerators Cool
A refrigerator does not create cold. It uses a circulating fluid and a compressor to collect heat inside the cabinet and release that heat into the room.
Why it matters
Why explore this?
Everyday objects can seem mysterious until we separate them into simple parts. This model lets you change one factor and see how the whole system responds.
Explore
Try the model
48% cooling
The refrigerant carries heat from inside to the room.
Investigate
Questions to test
Predict first, try it in the model, then use what you observe to answer.
What to try
- Open the door wider. How must compressor power change to keep cooling?
- What happens when heat enters faster than the compressor can remove it?
- Why does the back of a working refrigerator feel warm?
- Why does leaving the refrigerator door open make the room warmer rather than colder?
Explain
Make sense of what happened
Describe the system as a simple chain: what goes in, what changes inside, and what comes out. Use one observation from the model as evidence.
Check
Before you leave
Which change had the biggest effect?
How would you explain it to someone else?
If you can answer all three using evidence from the model, you understand the main idea. If not, return to Explore and change one setting at a time.