• An air conditioner is a machine used to cool off the air inside a home. Most work by evaporation, allowing a liquid to evaporate inside the house to absorb some of the heat and then taking the gas outside to cool off.

• Fast Facts

  1. Common uses: Cooling air within a house or room
  2. Price range: $40-$10,000
  3. Works by evaporation

• History

  Cooling by evaporation is not a new idea. The ancient Romans pumped water through the walls of the homes of the very wealthy, ancient China had water-powered fans and ancient Persia developed a cooling system based on wind during the middle ages.

  In 1820, Michael Faraday discovered that ammonia cools surrounding air when it evaporates. In 1842, John Gorrie, a doctor from Florida, developed a technique of compressing water to make ice.

  In 1902, Willis Haviland Carrier developed an electrical air conditioner for his printing business. Early functional air conditioners were used to cool machines rather than people.

  Residential air conditioners became widespread by the mid-1950s.

• Top Brands

  • Century
  • Comfort-Aire
  • Friedrich
  • Kenmore
  • LG
  • Mitsubishi Electric
  • Samsung
  • Sanyo
  • Sharp
  • Whirlpool
  • Frigidaire
  • Sunpentown
  • Convair
  • Amcor
  • DeLonghi

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