How does fridge keep food cold

Why not try our refrigeration circuit test game. How Does a Fridge Work? What Else Needs Cooling? Have you ever wondered how your fridge works to keep things cold? It's insulated and will keep your food cold as long as you keep the door shut and keep a fresh supply of ice in it. To prevent melting ice from turning your freezer into a pond, put ice in bowls and place them around the foods. Here's how to know if you need to replace your fridge. How to recycle old appliances with little to no effort.

Be respectful, keep it civil and stay on topic. We delete comments that violate our policy , which we encourage you to read. Be sure to check out the following activities with a friend or family member: How cool does your refrigerator keep your food?

Grab a thermometer and find out! Place the thermometer in your refrigerator's fresh food area and let it sit for a few minutes. Record the temperature, and then move the thermometer to the freezer.

Again, let it sit for a few minutes before recording the temperature. What is the difference in temperature between the freezer and the fresh food area? Ask an adult family member or friend to help you take an up-close look at your refrigerator. Hint: they'll probably be more excited about this learning opportunity if you help them clean out the refrigerator in the process!

If you can, pull out the refrigerator to get a look at the external coils. Can you locate any of the other parts of the system?

Double-check the temperature settings to make sure you're minimizing energy use! How would your day-to-day life change without a refrigerator? Think about the things you normally eat on a weekly basis.

How would your meals change if you only relied upon the unrefrigerated foods in the cupboard? How do you think you would've liked living long ago before refrigerators were common? Did you get it? Test your knowledge. What are you wondering?

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When the sensor senses that it's cold enough inside a refrigerator, it turns off the compressor. If it senses too much heat, it switches the compressor on and begins the cooling process again. Refrigerators work by causing the refrigerant circulating inside them to change from a liquid into a gas.

This process, called evaporation, cools the surrounding area and produces the desired effect. You can test this process for yourself by taking some alcohol and putting a drop or two on your skin.

As it evaporates, you should feel a chilling sensation - the same basic principle gives us safe food storage. To start the evaporation process and change the refrigerant from liquid to gas, the pressure on the refrigerant needs to be reduced through an outlet called the capillary tube. The effect is similar to what happens when you use an aerosol product such as hair spray.

When you release the contents into the lower pressure open space, it turns from a liquid to a gas.