Timeline for Why is it so inefficient to generate electricity by absorbing heat?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
32 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| May 9, 2018 at 20:04 | answer | added | untreated_paramediensis_karnik | timeline score: 0 | |
| Jan 10, 2018 at 22:38 | comment | added | wizzwizz4 | @nocomprende Only when the sun's not shining on your black leather jacket. | |
| Jan 10, 2018 at 21:34 | comment | added | user169874 | @TripeHound you can get away from heat just 100 miles from where you are right now. It is darn cold in space. | |
| Jan 10, 2018 at 21:17 | comment | added | user107153 | @EricDuminil Good point: I really meant that the temperature is not, on long timescales, rising. | |
| Jan 10, 2018 at 10:51 | comment | added | Eric Duminil | "it seems completely pointless because it is so inefficient". It's still the way cars, nukes and thermal powerplants work. | |
| Jan 10, 2018 at 10:50 | comment | added | Eric Duminil | @tfb: The temperature would still be finite if Earth didn't radiate heat away. The sun has been shining for 5 billion years "only". | |
| Jan 10, 2018 at 10:02 | comment | added | TripeHound | You almost answer your own question: the fact that it's so easy/efficient going from electricity to heat is pretty-much why it's so hard/inefficient to go from heat to electricity. As Philip Wood's answer, "heat" is an easy-to-get-to, "spread-out" form of energy; getting away from it is much harder. | |
| Jan 10, 2018 at 3:07 | comment | added | reirab | @PlasmaHH Incandescent lightbulbs are nearly 100% efficient... if your goal is to heat the room. :) | |
| Jan 10, 2018 at 2:18 | comment | added | Reactgular | This is how they make freeze ray guns and they don't even need batteries. | |
| Jan 9, 2018 at 15:07 | vote | accept | Random Name | ||
| Jan 9, 2018 at 15:06 | vote | accept | Random Name | ||
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| Jan 9, 2018 at 15:06 | vote | accept | Random Name | ||
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| Jan 9, 2018 at 15:06 | vote | accept | Random Name | ||
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| Jan 9, 2018 at 14:57 | comment | added | PlasmaHH | "like ridiculously inefficient, as in 10% efficient" ever thought about the efficiency of incandescent bulbs? | |
| Jan 9, 2018 at 10:36 | answer | added | AnoE | timeline score: 4 | |
| Jan 8, 2018 at 22:44 | comment | added | David Schwartz | You have a box with 1,000 chickens in it. Want them to spread out, just open the box. Want them back in the box? It's not so simple. | |
| Jan 8, 2018 at 22:42 | comment | added | user107153 | The Earth does radiate heat. That's why, despite about $1.5\times 10^{17}\,\mathrm{W}$ being poured onto it from the Sun, the temperature is finite. | |
| Jan 8, 2018 at 22:34 | answer | added | mathreadler | timeline score: 3 | |
| Jan 8, 2018 at 21:38 | history | protected | rob♦ | ||
| Jan 8, 2018 at 19:36 | comment | added | HsMjstyMstdn | What does it mean to "absorb heat" ? | |
| Jan 8, 2018 at 17:10 | comment | added | user169874 | When I let go of a rock, it falls to the ground with 100% efficiency. Why do rocks not spontaneously hop in to the air? Why are they so bad at doing that? | |
| Jan 8, 2018 at 17:10 | answer | added | Nat | timeline score: 54 | |
| Jan 8, 2018 at 16:38 | comment | added | Arthur | Also note that a machine that converts heat into electricity is really converting a temperature difference into electricity. If you have a warm thing and a cold thing next to one another, they tend to want to equalize, and you can get in on that action and get some electricity (or other energy) out of it. But once the temperatures are equal, your machine won't work any more. There is no machine that you can put in the middle of a warm room that will make the room colder and give you electricity (as long as the machine has the same temperature as the room). | |
| Jan 8, 2018 at 16:21 | answer | added | Dmitry Grigoryev | timeline score: 18 | |
| Jan 8, 2018 at 16:17 | history | edited | AccidentalFourierTransform | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
edited tags; edited title
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| Jan 8, 2018 at 16:01 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/StackPhysics/status/950397112730124288 | ||
| Jan 8, 2018 at 14:08 | history | edited | coconut | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| S Jan 8, 2018 at 13:26 | history | suggested | Communisty | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
corrected spelling
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| Jan 8, 2018 at 12:42 | review | Suggested edits | |||
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| Jan 8, 2018 at 12:39 | answer | added | Philip Wood | timeline score: 73 | |
| Jan 8, 2018 at 12:13 | review | First posts | |||
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| Jan 8, 2018 at 12:13 | history | asked | Random Name | CC BY-SA 3.0 |