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Thread ID: 16724 2002-03-16 04:12:00 Sucking air? Guest (0) Press F1
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39372 2002-03-16 04:12:00 In the NZ Herald this morning, is a puzzle for the kids in the timeout section.

The question is this:
The heating is malfunctioning in a candle store, fred says use fans to stop the candles melting. Will this work?

Answer: no, all fans do is make people feel cooler, they don't really cool at all.

So, any of the uberclockenmeisters out there want to offer their opinion to granny Herald? Or if you don't tell your PC and they don't know fans don't work, then they will be okay?

As for me, not only would fans help if they suck air in to or blow air out of the shop, but the other key point is this - couldn't they turn off the heating?

After last week's puzzle which said the calendar being on December meant someone had been there in winter (doesn't happen like that in any part of NZ, to my knowledge, or is part of NZ in the northern hemisphere and I didn't notice?) I think they deserve a bit of the razz.
I have emailed letters@nzherald.co.nz, and encourage others if they feel similarly aggrieved.

Or am I just being pedantic?

r e t
Guest (0)
39373 2002-03-16 04:42:00 'The question is this:
The heating is malfunctioning in a candle store, fred says use fans to stop the candles melting. Will this work?'

nope. moving hot air around will not make it cooler unlees you can remove the heat from the air to something cooler.in this case the hot air will simply heat up the candles. the fans will make it like a fan oven, help the heat go from the air to the candles.

with a pc heat is going from the cpu to air.
Guest (0)
39374 2002-03-16 05:26:00 So, a fan near an open window or door would be a reasonable choice? Wouldn't it? Surely that would mean that a fan would provide an adequate cooling solution in the long term?

Or, sit the fan in the room next to a bucket of ice to blast hot air over the cool bucket and the cool air around the bucket into the room?

That's three possibilities where a fan would actually work. Isn't that enough to suggest that the answer in the paper is complete bulls wool?

r e t
Guest (0)
39375 2002-03-16 05:31:00 FRED SHOULD BLOW OUT THE CANDLES. Guest (0)
39376 2002-03-16 06:26:00 First of all, no - there's nothing wrong with being pedantic. Kids shouldn't be given misleading information.

But, looking at the question as you've related it (I didn't see the Herald), I think it gives a reasonable answer in context.

If it's hot inside and outside, such as on a sultry summer evening, then a fan just moves the hot air around. However, for human beings, it's better than nothing because the movement of air causes sweat to evaporate, which is how the body is cooled.

Candles, of course, can't sweat.

If it's hotter inside than outside (perhaps because of machinery giving off heat), then a fan by a window will be a great help in reducing the difference.

As mentioned by the other contributors, the fans in a PC are either exchanging hot air from inside the box with cooler air outside, or dissipating heat from the CPU/heatsinks by transferring it to the surrounding air, or both.

As for the use of the word 'heating', I think it a reasonable assumption that what's meant is an air-conditioning system that can heat or cool as required.


Cheers

John.
Guest (0)
39377 2002-03-16 07:54:00 the weird thing with this problem is that it shows Fred realises there is something wrong with the heating, so instead of turning the heating source off he plugs fans in.
This shows that adults take the kids page way too serious.
Guest (0)
39378 2002-03-16 21:22:00 Fred should just let the candles melt into strange and unusual shapes, buy some crystals and other strange items and then change the name of his shop to New Age Living all the time using the fan to keep himself cool out the back Guest (0)
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