Conditioning Sheldon 'link' | Air

Enter air conditioning. The common misconception is that it "adds coolness." This is the kind of intellectual laziness I expect from a toddler or, say, Howard Wolowitz. Air conditioning does not create cool; it relocates heat. It is a heat pump. It takes the thermal energy from inside an enclosed volume—my sanctuary, my Sheldon-specific zone—and, through the magic of phase-change refrigeration and a compressor, dumps it outside. It is a bouncer for British thermal units.

Let us begin with a simple premise: The human body is a biological machine of staggering inefficiency. On a warm day, it produces approximately 100 watts of waste heat just by sitting still—roughly equivalent to an incandescent light bulb, which, I’ll note, has been largely outlawed for its profligacy. Now add physical activity, poor insulation (i.e., clothing), and the suffocating hubris of living in a region like Houston or, heaven forbid, Pasadena in July. air conditioning sheldon

The result is not merely "discomfort." Discomfort is what I feel when Leonard uses my toothbrush. No, what we are discussing is a violation of the second law of thermodynamics. Heat spontaneously flows from a hotter object to a cooler object. In summer, that means the outside world wishes to transfer its oppressive thermal energy directly into my living room, where I am trying to calculate the spin of a quantum particle. This is unacceptable. Enter air conditioning

And to those who say, "Just open a window," I say: You have invited in humidity, noise, and, potentially, a moth. I rest my case. Now if you’ll excuse me, my thermostat has drifted 0.2 degrees. I need to recalibrate before the universe ends. It is a heat pump

The Thermodynamic Imperative of Climate Control