The Most Misunderstood Concept in Physics

Recent questions

• How does Earth receive energy from the sun?

  Earth receives energy from the sun daily, which is crucial for sustaining life on the planet. This energy is radiated back into space, but a fraction of it is absorbed and utilized by Earth for various processes, such as photosynthesis in plants and providing warmth for living organisms.

• What is the concept behind Carnot's ideal heat engine?

  Carnot's ideal heat engine involves a reversible process that includes hot and cold bars, a chamber, and a piston. The efficiency of this engine is not 100% due to differences in heat flow between the hot and cold sides. Lord Kelvin further developed this concept to create the Kelvin scale based on absolute temperature.

• Why do real engines have low efficiency?

  Real engines have low efficiency due to factors such as friction, heat dissipation, and non-constant temperature transfer. These inefficiencies result in energy spreading out, leading to irreversibility and the concept of entropy, which increases over time.

• How does Ludwig Boltzmann's insight relate to heat flow?

  Ludwig Boltzmann's insight explains the improbability of heat flowing from cold to hot based on the energy configurations in systems with numerous atoms and energy packets. This insight helps understand the direction of heat flow and the concept of entropy in thermodynamic systems.

• How does life contribute to entropy increase?

  Life accelerates entropy increase by converting low entropy energy, such as the sun's energy, into high entropy forms through various processes. For example, plants use the sun's energy to grow, and animals consume plants for energy, contributing to the overall increase in entropy. This conversion of energy from low to high entropy is a fundamental aspect of the thermodynamic processes that govern the universe.