# @stem_antics on Instagram

- **Type:** Video
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DV4yKOvAJrJ
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/61935817-stem-antics-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/432022979b.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-03-15T01:50:47.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Stem Antics (@stem_antics) — https://gondola.cc/stem_antics

## Caption

A typical yakhchal combined several engineering principles:

1. Evaporative cooling
Water flowing through channels around the structure evaporated in the dry desert air. Evaporation removes heat from the remaining water, lowering the temperature of nearby surfaces.

2. Thermal mass and insulation
The walls were built from a specialized mortar called sarooj (sand, clay, lime, egg whites, ash, and goat hair).
This mixture created thick, highly insulating walls—often over two meters thick—that slowed heat transfer from the outside environment.

3. Subterranean storage
Much of the ice storage chamber was built underground, where temperatures fluctuate far less than at the surface. This natural thermal buffering helped keep ice frozen for months.

4. Radiative cooling and night freezing
During winter nights, shallow pools outside the structure allowed water to freeze when temperatures dropped below 0°C. Heat radiated away to the cold night sky, enabling ice formation even in climates with warm daytime temperatures.

The ice was then transported into the dome-shaped storage chamber where it could last well into the summer.

Some yakhchals could store hundreds of cubic meters of ice, supplying cities with chilled foods, cold drinks, and medical cooling centuries before mechanical refrigeration existed.

This is a powerful reminder that sustainable engineering solutions often come from careful observation of physics—heat transfer, phase change, and material science—long before modern technology.

Ancient infrastructure solving modern problems.

What other historical technologies used clever physics like this?

#stem #engineeringhistory #ancientengineering #thermalphysics #passivecooling

## Stats

- **Views:** 19,991
- **Likes:** 421
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- **Comments:** 2

## Tags

passivecooling, engineeringhistory, stem, thermalphysics, ancientengineering

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