Einstein's Fridge

[profdant139]

For those of us fascinated by RV absorption fridges (aren't we all?) or by thermodynamics (probably a smaller contingent), there's a new book that may be of interest:

Link to the book Einstein's Fridge

Who knew that Einstein even owned an RV?? 😉

[profdant139]

ktmrfs, you are right that the other aspects of Einstein's work were far more significant than his fridge project. But then again, he did not patent relativity!

And the fellow he worked with on his fridge patent, Leo Szilard, later went on to be an important player in the Manhattan Project. Einstein himself never actually worked on the bomb, as far as I know.

[rexlion]

No doubt about it, this is one cool subject. 😉

[Lwiddis]

Al never discussed his work on refrigerators with me.

[ktmrfs]

the fridge wasn't the big thing in Einsteins work, it was his work on expanding the priciples of thermodynamics and how it applied to physics well outside the previous thinkings on thermodynamics.

[profdant139]

doug, you are right that Einstein did not invent the absorption fridge -- but apparently he did co-invent a more efficient version. I do not have the technical ability to say what was so special about his invention. Here's a link that may explain some of this stuff:

Wiki discussion

[Boon_Docker]

Yep, kept the beer cold for the whole campground.

[time2roll]

Yes and instead of propane it use a small primitive nuclear reactor as a heat source 😉

[Boon_Docker]

Sure he did. That is how he kept his beer cold in his Airstream. :B

[dougrainer]

Einstein did not author or make Ammonia based refer/cold systems. The technology predates him by at least 30 or 40 years. Doug

Ammonia was first used as a refrigerant in the 1850s in France and was applied in the United States in the 1860s for artificial ice production. The first patents for ammonia refrigeration machines were filed in the 1870s. ... By the 1920s, ammonia refrigeration was being applied to ice rinks.