From Termite Den to Office Building

From Termite Den to Office Building — page 1 — Published in the United States of America by Cherry Lake Publishing Ann Arbor Michigan www cherrylakepublishing com Content Adviser Marjan Eggermont Senior Instructor Schulich School of Engineering Calgary Alberta Canada Reading Adviser Marla Conn ReadAbility Inc Design The Design Lab Photo Credits Cover and page 3 Ken Wilson-Max Alamy cover inset and page 10 Piotr Gatlik Shutterstock Inc page 4 Anton Chalakov Shutterstock Inc page 6 Realchemyst Shutterstock Inc page 7 Aleksey Stemmer Shutterstock Inc page 9 smuay Shutterstock Inc page 13 Jay Hocking Shutterstock Inc page 14 damien_farrell http www ﬂickr com CC BY 2 0 page 16 Craig Buchanan Alamy page 17 garybembridge http www ﬂickr com CC BY 2 0 page 20 kzww Shutterstock Inc page 21 Artazum and Iriana Shiyan Shutterstock Inc page 23 Dmitriy Komarov Shutterstock Inc page 25 AP Photo Koji Sasahara page 27 deadlyphoto com Alamy page 29 Bettmann Corbis AP Images Copyright 2014 by Cherry Lake Publishing All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means without written permission from the publisher Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Yomtov Nelson From termite den to ofﬁce building by Nel Yomtov pages cm Innovations from nature Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN 978-1-62431-755-2 library binding ISBN 978-1-62431-767-5 pdf ISBN 978-1-62431-761-3 paperback ISBN 978-1-62431-773-6 e-book 1 Ofﬁce buildings Design and construction Juvenile literature 2 Architecture Technological innovations Juvenile literature 3 Termites Habitations Juvenile literature 4 Biomimicry Juvenile literature I Title NA6230 Y65 2014 720 dc23 Cherry Lake Publishing would like to acknowledge the work of The Partnership for 21st Century Skills Please visit www p21 org for more information 2013031285 Printed in the United States of America Corporate Graphics Inc January 2014

From Termite Den to Office Building — page 2 — Chapter One Modern Comforts Chapter Two Nature’s Master Builders Chapter Three How It’s Done Chapter Four Looking Ahead Chapter Five A Building Dream Team Glossary For More Information Index About the Author 4 9 14 20 25 30 31 32 32 INNOVATIONS FROM NATURE

From Termite Den to Office Building — page 3 — 4 Have you ever wondered how the temperature in a mall a movie theater or a large ofﬁce building seems just right When it’s hot outside it’s usually nice and cool inside When it’s cold outside you’re warm and toasty inside The temperatures in a modern building are controlled by a heating and cooling system The cooling system is commonly known as air-conditioning CHAPTER ONE Even when a mall is crowded with people on a hot day the air inside is usually cool From Termite Den to Office Building

From Termite Den to Office Building — page 4 — Modern Comfor ts 5 The ﬁrst modern air-conditioning system was developed in 1902 The owners of the Sackett-Wilhelms Lithographing and Publishing Company in Brooklyn New York were having a problem with humidity at their plant The paper absorbed moisture from the hot summer air This made it difﬁcult to apply inks to the paper A young electrical engineer named Willis Haviland Carrier came up with an idea to solve the problem Carrier set up a system of chilled pipes and passed the air inside the building over them The air cooled as it passed over the pipes Because cool air doesn’t hold as much moisture as warm air the humidity in the plant was reduced As a result the paper stayed dry enough to use Modern heating and cooling systems are far more complex than Carrier’s concept They require many parts to operate smoothly Some buildings require more than one system Although many parts of the system are huge you may never see any of them They are often placed in ceilings on rooftops or in basements A modern cooling system uses chilled water to cool the air The chilled water is pumped to a machine located in an air duct The air duct is often hidden in the ceiling Air passes through the duct and cools down as it moves past the machine The chilled air travels through the duct It escapes through vents into stores ofﬁces and other open spaces INNOVATIONS FROM NATURE

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