• Question: Which one is better, a sink or a refrigeratior from the standpoint of an engineer

    Asked by SammyG2k17 to Yetty, Tom, Laura, Jack, Gina, Chris on 15 Jun 2017.
    • Photo: Christopher Bullock

      Christopher Bullock answered on 15 Jun 2017:

      A refrigerator is far more interesting. It cools things by transferring heat from the inside of the fridge to the outside (you can’t add cold but you can remove heat). Mechanical engineers will have been working on the designing the fridge in your kitchen to try and get this to work in as efficient way as possible (so that it uses less electricity and is better for the environment).

    • Photo: Laura Walker

      Laura Walker answered on 15 Jun 2017:

      A refrigerator. Our company designs really big versions using the same principle that the air gets blown through to make rooms colder

    • Photo: Tom Rooney

      Tom Rooney answered on 16 Jun 2017:

      I think interest in sinks is going down the drain, whereas refrigerators are cool!

      Seriously though – the fridge is an amazing object. They can run on batteries, mains electricity and some are even gas powered (the gas powered one gets hot to get cool!). There is a real need for further innovation in fridge design as the gases used in the cooling circuits are harmful to the environment if they escape. Future fridges need to be more efficient, 100% recyclable and not harmful to our atmosphere. There is prototype gel fridge out there which looks amazing – it’s like a huge block of cooling jelly and all your food etc appears to be hovering around in it… awesome looking, but totally impractical!

    • Photo: Yetunde Kolawole

      Yetunde Kolawole answered on 17 Jun 2017:

      Well, although a refrigerator is much more complex, a sink is a great example of how a simple design can make life much easier: as simple as it seems, you can’t live without a sink. You can actually live without a refrigerator.

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