Aniceberg, which is commonly associated with coldSignal "cold" – unofficial (except recommended byCMAS), it is nonetheless used by many schools of diving and propagated through diving websites as one of the more useful additional signals[1]Goose bumps, a common physiological response to cold, aiming to reduce the loss of body heat in a cold environmentA photograph of the snow surface atDome C Station,Antarctica. A part of the notoriously coldPolar Plateau, it is representative of the majority of the continent's surface.
Since temperature relates to thethermal energy held by an object or a sample of matter, which is thekinetic energy of the random motion of the particle constituents of matter, an object will have less thermal energy when it is colder and more when it is hotter. If it were possible to cool a system to absolute zero, all motion of the particles in a sample of matter would cease and they would be at complete rest in theclassical sense. The object could be described as having zero thermal energy. Microscopically in the description ofquantum mechanics, however, matter still haszero-point energy even at absolute zero, because of theuncertainty principle.
Cooling refers to the process of becoming cold, or lowering intemperature. This could be accomplished by removing heat from a system, or exposing the system to an environment with a lower temperature.
Coolants arefluids used to cool objects, prevent freezing and prevent erosion in machines.[2]
Air cooling is the process of cooling an object by exposing it toair. This will only work if the air is at a lower temperature than the object, and the process can be enhanced by increasing thesurface area, increasing the coolant flow rate, or decreasing themass of the object.[3][better source needed]
Another common method of cooling is exposing an object toice,dry ice, orliquid nitrogen. This works byconduction; the heat is transferred from the relatively warm object to the relatively cold coolant.[4]
In ancient times, ice was not adopted forfood preservation but used to cool wine which the Romans had also done. According toPliny,Emperor Nero invented the ice bucket to chill wines instead of adding it to wine to make it cold as it would dilute it.[7]
Some time around 1700 BCZimri-Lim, king ofMari Kingdom in northwest Iraq had created an "icehouse" calledbit shurpin at a location close to his capital city on the banks of theEuphrates. In the 7th century BC the Chinese had used icehouses to preserve vegetables and fruits. During theTang dynastic rule in China (618–907 AD) a document refers to the practice of using ice that was in vogue during theEastern Chou Dynasty (770–256 BC) by 94 workmen employed for "Ice-Service" to freeze everything from wine to dead bodies.[7]
Shachtman says that in the 4th century AD, the brother of the Japanese emperorNintoku gave him a gift of ice from a mountain. The Emperor was so happy with the gift that he named the first of June as the "Day of Ice" and ceremoniously gave blocks of ice to his officials.[7]
Even in ancient times, Shachtman says, in Egypt and India, night cooling by evaporation of water and heat radiation, and the ability of salts to lower the freezing temperature of water was practiced. The ancient people of Rome and Greece were aware that boiled water cooled quicker than the ordinary water; the reason for this is that with boiling of watercarbon dioxide and other gases, which are deterrents to cooling, are removed; but this fact was not known till the 17th century.[7]
Shachtman says that KingJames VI and I supported the work ofCornelis Drebbel as a magician to perform tricks such as producing thunder, lightning, lions, birds, trembling leaves and so forth. In 1620 he gave a demonstration in Westminster Abbey to the king and his courtiers on the power of cold.[8] On a summer day, Shachtman says, Drebbel had created a chill (lowered the temperature by several degrees) in the hall of the Abbey, which made the king shiver and run out of the hall with his entourage. This was an incredible spectacle, says Shachtman. Several years before,Giambattista della Porta had demonstrated at the Abbey "ice fantasy gardens, intricate ice sculptures" and also iced drinks for banquets inFlorence. The only reference to the artificial freezing created by Drebbel was byFrancis Bacon. His demonstration was not taken seriously as it was considered one of his magic tricks, as there was no practical application then. Drebbel had not revealed his secrets.[9]
Shachtman says that Lord Chancellor Bacon, an advocate of experimental science, had tried inNovum Organum, published in the late 1620s, to explain the artificial freezing experiment at Westminster Abbey, though he was not present during the demonstration, as "Nitre (or rather its spirit) is very cold, and hence nitre or salt when added to snow or ice intensifies the cold of the latter, the nitre by adding to its own cold, but the salt by supplying activity to the cold snow." This explanation on the cold inducing aspects ofnitre and salt was tried then by many scientists.[10]
Shachtman says it was the lack of scientific knowledge in physics and chemistry that had held back progress in the beneficial use of ice until a drastic change in religious opinions in the 17th century. The intellectual barrier was broken by Francis Bacon andRobert Boyle who followed him in this quest for knowledge of cold.[11] Boyle did extensive experimentation during the 17th century in the discipline of cold, and his research on pressure and volume was the forerunner of research in the field of cold during the 19th century. He explained his approach as "Bacon's identification of heat and cold as the right and left hands of nature".[12] Boyle also refuted some of the theories mooted byAristotle on cold by experimenting on transmission of cold from one material to the other. He proved that water was not the only source of cold but gold, silver and crystal, which had no water content, could also change to severe cold condition.[13]
In the United States from about 1850 till end of 19th century export of ice was second only to cotton. The first ice box was developed by Thomas Moore, a farmer fromMaryland in 1810 to carry butter in an oval shaped wooden tub. The tub was provided with a metal lining in its interior and surrounded by a packing of ice. A rabbit skin was used as insulation. Moore also developed an ice box for domestic use with the container built over a space of 6 cubic feet (0.17 m3) which was filled with ice. In 1825, ice harvesting by use of a horse drawn ice cutting device was invented by Nathaniel J. Wyeth. The cut blocks of uniform size ice was a cheap method of food preservation widely practiced in the United States. Also developed in 1855 was a steam powered device to haul 600 tons of ice per hour. More innovations ensued. Devices using compressed air as a refrigerants were invented.[14]
Iceboxes were in widespread use from the mid-19th century to the 1930s, when therefrigerator was introduced into the home. Most municipally consumed ice was harvested in winter from snow-packed areas or frozen lakes, stored inice houses, and delivered domestically as iceboxes became more common.
In 1913, refrigerators for home use were invented. In 1923 Frigidaire introduced the first self-contained unit. The introduction ofFreon in the 1920s expanded the refrigerator market during the 1930s.[15] Home freezers as separate compartments (larger than necessary just for ice cubes) were introduced in 1940. Frozen foods, previously a luxury item, became commonplace.
Cold has numerousphysiological andpathological effects on thehuman body, as well as on other organisms. Cold environments may promote certainpsychological traits, as well as having direct effects on the ability to move.Shivering is one of the first physiological responses to cold.[16] Even at low temperatures, the cold can massively disrupt blood circulation. Extracellular water freezes and tissue is destroyed. It affects fingers, toes, nose, ears and cheeks particularly often. They discolor, swell, blister, and bleed. The so-calledfrostnip leads to local frostbite or even to the death of entire body parts. Only temporary cold reactions of the skin are without consequences. As blood vessels contract, they become cool and pale, with less oxygen getting into the tissue. Warmth stimulates blood circulation again and is painful but harmless. Comprehensive protection against the cold is particularly important for children and for sports. Extreme cold temperatures may lead tofrostbite,sepsis, andhypothermia, which in turn may result in death.[17][18]
TheNational Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado using a new technique, managed to chill a microscopic mechanical drum to 360 microkelvins, making it the coldest object on record. Theoretically, using this technique, an object could be cooled to absolute zero.[20]
90377 Sedna is one of the coldest known objects within theSolar System. Orbiting at an average distance of 135 billion km (84 billion miles), Sedna has an average surface temperature of −240°C (−400°F).[22]
Saturn with a black-body temperature of 81.1 K (−192.0 °C, −313.7 °F).[30]
Mercury, despite being close to the Sun, is actually cold during its night, with a temperature of about 93.15 K (−180 °C, −290 °F). Mercury is cold during its night because it has noatmosphere to trap inheat from the Sun.[31]
Jupiter with a black-body temperature of 110.0 K (−163.2 °C, −261.67 °F).[32]
Mars with a black-body temperature of 210.1 K (−63.05 °C, −81.49 °F).[33]
The cold deserts of theNorth Pole, known as the tundra region, experiences an annual snow fall of a few centimeters and temperatures recorded are as low as 203.15 K (−70 °C, −94 °F). Only a few small plants survive in the generally frozen ground (thaws only for a short spell).[38]
Cold deserts of the Himalayas are a feature of a rain-shadow zone created by the mountain peaks of the Himalaya range that runs fromPamir Knot extending to the southern border of theTibetan Plateau; however this mountain range is also the reason for the monsoon rain fall in theIndian subcontinent. This zone is located in an elevation of about 3,000 m, and coversLadakh,Lahaul,Spiti andPooh. In addition, there are inner valleys within the main Himalayas such asChamoli, some areas ofKinnaur,Pithoragarh and northernSikkim which are also categorized as cold deserts.[39]
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