Probably a stupid question, but will we ever have something like a microwave to make things cold? Is there a reason this can't exist? - eviltoast
  • qwamqwamqwam@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Temperature is average kinetic energy. It is very easy to put kinetic energy into an object and much harder to take it out. Microwaves do it by shining a “light” tuned to microwave frequencies on objects. So you can imagine the problem is about as hard as shining a lamp on something and having it get colder. Laser-based cooling methods do exist but they’re quite expensive and mostly operate on the atomic scale. For now, the best way we know of to cool large items in bulk is to put them next to something that’s even colder—in short, a refrigerator.