Air Conditioning Started in Roman Times

Cooling the home with different forms of air conditioning has ancient roots going back to the Roman Empire. The term air conditioning refers to the process of removing humidity and heat from the air in a room or building, therefore making it drier and cooler. Ancient Romans had pipes full of circulating cool water in their homes to cool the air. However, the modern version of air conditioning arose from the chemical discoveries of Benjamin Franklin and Micheal Faraday.

Benjamin Franklin, along with his research partner John Hadley, discovered that quickly evaporating liquids such as alcohol could rapidly cool an object. They managed to cool the bulb of a thermometer, using just alcohol and a bellows to speed up the evaporation process, to 7 degrees Fahrenheit while the rest of the room remained at 65 degrees Fahrenheit. Micheal Faraday furthered this idea when he found that by compressing ammonia until it was a liquid, then allowing it to evaporate, it's possible to chill air.

The first version of what we use in our homes and businesses today as an air conditioner was created by Willis Haviland Carrier while he was employed at a printing company. The presses would malfunction and print the colored inks incorrectly whenever the humidity level was too high. So Carrier invented a machine that could not only cool the air in the factory, but also remove unwanted humidity. His device used fans to move air over tubes full of cooled water, therefore cooling the air.

Cool air holds less moisture than warm air, therefore lowering humidity levels. Air conditioners today do far more than simply keep moisture levels low. They help people live in extreme climates where life might otherwise be impossible or at least unbearable. The 100+ degree temperatures that regularly occur in the South and Southwestern United States can cause heat stroke and even death, especially since temperatures can rise higher in cities that are full of blacktop and asphalt.

Air conditioning also makes larger buildings possible. Combined with air ducts, an air conditioner helps to pump fresh air into the middle of a deep building. Otherwise there would be no way of getting ventilation into the core. If this was not possible, buildings would have to be built much thinner, so all rooms could have windows for ventilation.

Although the first air conditioning units were relatively simple, modern units are technological wonders and require the knowledge of a air conditioning contractor to fix. An HVAC contractor, which stands for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, must undergo rigorous training to repair and install these systems. When residential air conditioning first became a regular occurrence rather than a luxury in the 1950's, it created many jobs in air conditioning repair. Cooling air for comfort, rather than industrial uses, was first started in 1924.

These machines were first installed in a department store. However, soon they caught on and spread to movie theaters, restaurants, and anywhere that might be stuffy and uncomfortable in the summer heat. After World War 2 ended, the economic boom encouraged many homeowners to invest in the now indispensable air conditioner. Nowadays, the hum of air conditioners is one of the sounds of summer.