What are the different stages of heating and how did they affect the natural world?

Table of Contents

Page 1- Table of ContentsPage 2- An Humble IntroductionPage 3- The Power of FirePage 5- Then It Evolved Into FireplacesPage 6- Proper FireplacePage 8- The Age of the HottiesPage 11- Electric BlanketsPage 12- Let's Take a Step BackwardsPage 13- Underfloor HeatingPage 15- Final Conclusion Page 16- GlossaryPage 17- Bibliography

An Humble Introduction

The world of heating; it's amazing how heating has evolved from fire, to underfloor heating and heaters; humans won't be able to survive in winter if not for these heating appliances. However, these heating appliances have a bad impact on the environment, for example the elctrical appliances, they need power; they use nuclear power, solar power, hydroelectric power, wind power and fossil fuels. Using fossil fuels creates carbon dioxide, is an unrenewable source, and is only a short term solution for electricity. In this slideshow, I will show you some of the well known forms of heating and the effects they have on the natural world.

The Power of Fire!!!

Fire was the first ever type of heating discovered by homo sapiens (early humans)1.6 million years ago; it changed the way they

cooked, and made meat easier to digest which lowered the rate of sickness/ indigestion. To make fire, the homo sapiens used bow

drills and fire drills which looked like this.... and this...

The Effect of Fire on the Environment

All About Fire Fire is one of the lowest

efficiency heating methods: burning plants and wood.

Fire was the first type of heating discovered.

Discovered by cavemen.

Effect of Fire Creates carbon dioxide and

smog which is easily spotted in the South Island in N.Z.

Lowered the rate of disease.

Causes bush fires which burns down houses.

Changes ways of cooking for the homo sapiens.

Then It Evolved Into Fireplaces!

The use of fireplaces was first discovered in the Roman times, back then, they were just holes in rooves that had a stone pit underneath that only the rich could afford.

Did You Know?

The fireplaces also helped with the lighting, the light created by the fire reflected off the carefully measured and placed small white tiles nicknamed 'cat's eyes' in the walls and the 'cat's eyes' reflect off each other; creating more light, therefore lighting up the room.

Then, no big changes occured until Ben Franklin came along and invented the first...........

Proper FireplaceIn 1624, no significant changes were made, until architect Louis Savot,

who was working at the Louvre, invented and developed a type of fireplace in which air was drawn through some passages under the

hearth and behind the fire grate, being discharged into the room through a grill in the mantle. However, the one who perfected the invention was David Rittenhouse who added a pipe bent at an 90

degrees angle to the back of the stove which was meant to direct the smoke out of a chimney. Another person interested in the "smoking chimneys'' in London was Count Rumford, also known as Benjamin

Thompson. His fireplace was much taller than the other designs and it helped a lot at the removal of the smoke. As time passed, the fireplace

became an necessity, and greatly flourished in the Victorian times. Fields of around 20 tonnes of wood (dried) per hectare per year are

chopped down. This wood is used as fire wood. The firewood that is needed for a fireplace doesn't have to be straight and perfect, even spare branches can be used as kinderling, but the chopping of trees

has reduced the amount of forests around the world and has destoryed the homes of manyy different species of animals.

The Age of the Hotties (Hot Water Bottles)!

Early 16th century:

Containers for warmth in bed were in use as early as the 16th century. The earliest versions contained hot coals from the dying embers of the fire, and these bed warmers were used to warm the bed before

getting into it.Containers using hot water were soon also used, with the advantage

that they could remain in the bed with the sleeper. Before the invention of rubber that could withstand heat, these early hot water bottles were made of a variety of materials, such as zinc, copper,

glass, earthenware or wood. To prevent burning, the metal hot water flasks were wrapped in a soft cloth bag.

Hot Water Bottles

Late 20th century:

As technology advances, the use of hot water bottles had markedly decreased around most of the world. Not only were homes better heated, but newer items such as electric blankets were competing with hot water bottles as a source of night-time heat.

Some Other Information About Hot Water Bottles

Hot water bottles remain as a popular alternative, there has been a recent rise in popularity in Japan where it is seen as an ecologically friendly and quick way to keep warm. Hot water bottles are an eco-friendly option as they only need a rubber container and hot water.

Some newer products use water soaked into a nonwoven material pad. These pads can be heated in an microwave oven and they are marketed as cheaper and safer than liquid-filled bottles or electrical devices.

While generally used for keeping warm,hot water bottles can be used to some effect for the local application of heat as a type of medical treatment, for example for pain relief.

Electric Blankets

An electric blanket (125 watt) costs 9.2¢ for every 8 hours

The first electric blanket was invented in 1912 by an American physician named Sidney I. Russell. This earliest form of an electric blanket was an ‘underblanket’ under the bed that covered and heated from below. In 1937, Electric 'overblankets' which lie on top of the sleeping person were introduced in the United States.

Modern electric blankets have carbon fibre wires. These blankets usually work on 24 volts instead of the normal 110/240 volts.

Let's Take a Step Backwards

Chinese: 炕 , pinyin: kàng

Underfloor heating first started in ancient China where it was a traditional 2 metre long sleeping platform made of bricks or other forms of fired clay.

Its interior cavity, leading to a flue, channels the left overheat from a wood or coal stove. Normally, a kang occupies one-third to one-half the area of the room, and is used for sleeping at night. A kang which covers the entire floor is called a dikang Chinese: 地炕 , di meaning "floor".

Underfloor Heating 1500

Attention to comfort and architecture in Europe increases; China and Korea apply floor heating with wide scale adoption.

1700

Benjamin Franklin studies the French and Asian cultures and makes note of their respective heating system leading to the invention of the Franklin stove. Steam based radiant pipes are used in France. Hypocaust type system used to heat public bath (Hammam) in the citadel town of Erbil located in modern day Iraq.

1800

The earliest beginnings of polyethylene-based pipes occur when German scientist, Hans von Pechmann, discovered a waxy residue at the bottom of a test tube, his colleagues Eugen Bamberger and Friedrich Tschirner called it polymethylene but it was discarded as having no commercial use at the time.

2000

Modern underfloor heating systems use either electrical resistance elements ("electric systems") or fluid flowing in pipes ("hydronic systems”) to heat the floor. Either type can be installed as the primary, whole-building heating system or as localized floor heating for thermal comfort.

Final Conclusion

In many ways, heating has affected both the environment, and our lives. There has been bush fires and air pollution, warmth and cooked food; without heating, a huge chunk of our lives

would be missing, it may look like I'm over exaggerating it but imagine a cold winter night without a fireplace or heater, will

you be able to survive? Throughout history, there has been both good and bad consequences, but hey, the past is the past, we can't change it, we just have to move along and think about

more eco-friendly heating solutions!

Glossary

Hydroelectric- generating electricity from a water millSignificant- fairly large amount or quantity

Alternative- the choice between two mutually exclusive possibilitiesInterior- of, relating to, or located on the inside; inner

Cavity- a hollow area within the bodyFlue- a pipe, tube, or channel for conveying hot air, gas, steam, or

smoke, as from a furnace or fireplace to a chimney.Hypocaust- a space under the floor of an building where heat from a

furnace was accumulated to heat a room or a bath.Polyethylene- is the most widely used plastic, with an annual

production of approximately 80 million metric tons

Bibliography Don Chen (my dad)

Deary, Terry Horrible Histories The Gorgeous Geogerians Scholastic UK, 1998

Deary, Terry Horrible Histories The Vile Victorians Scholastic LtdUK, 1994

Kindersley, Dorling Early People Dorling Kindersly Limited, 9 Henrietta Street, London, 1989

http://earlyhumans.mrdonn.org/fire.html

http://www.dichotomistic.com/mind_readings_fire.html

http://ezinearticles.com/?When-Was-the-Fireplace-Invented?&id=4364390

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_water_bottle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_blanket http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_fuel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underfloor_heating http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_heatinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kang_bed-stovehttp://www.thefreedictionary.com/

Created By: Joyce Chen Room 4 2011