A fridge has no ice inside. Where does the heat from the food go?
- inside
- 22.0 °C (72 °F)
- time
- 0:00:00
- compressor
- unplugged
- evaporator takes in
- 0 W
- condenser gives out
- 0 W
- leaks in through walls
- 0.0 W
- refrigerant
- still
- heat moved out
- 0 kJ · electricity 0 kJ
Press the steps in order, or press Auto. Follow the refrigerant round its loop: it boils inside the fridge and condenses outside it.
Physics from LibreTexts College Physics (OpenStax): 15.5 Heat Pumps and Refrigerators (Qh = Qc + W; COP = Qc/W, 2 to 6 for real refrigerators), 14.5 Conduction (Q/t = kA(T2 - T1)/d; Styrofoam 0.010 W/m·°C), 14.2 Temperature Change and Heat Capacity (water 4,186 and air 1,015 J/kg·°C) and 11.2 Density (air 1.29 kg/m³). Refrigerant R-134a boiling points and heats from the NIST Chemistry WebBook. Safe fridge temperature from the FDA. Example values: the sizes, 10 kg of food and drinks counted as water, a 22 °C room, a 75 W compressor with COP 2.0, the two pressures, and the thermostat settings. The moving dots show the direction of flow, not its speed. Drawn to scale in meters with the Anatomy kit (MIT license).