3 ms·

does this imply an overall entropy reduction for a whole system comprising a device and support apparatus for reusing its heat as energy source supply?

• 0xBA5ED 7y ago
  No you can't make a perpetual motion machine with it ;)
  • Zenst 7y ago
    But could you produce a cooling system that this could power? Or at least recycle some of the heat fridge/freezers produce back into electricity.
    • 0xBA5ED 7y ago
      >Or at least recycle some of the heat fridge/freezers produce back into electricity This was already possible. Now you could just do it more efficiently.
    • mping 7y ago
      I was thinking more like CPUs and GPUs
      • 0xBA5ED 7y ago
        Right. I'm thinking about server farms.
  • icris 7y ago
    i am aware of it. i was not pretending we could reach zero entropy but nevertheless it manifests entropy reduction compared to an energetic non-optimal raw material doesn't it? meaning if we need less energy for the same amount of work we do it more efficiently and therefore require less (but not null!) entropic output
  • deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
• lopmotr 7y ago
  Are you asking if it violates the 2nd law? Of course not. It's just a heat engine like any other electrical generator so it's not going to have fundamentally new kinds of applications. Don't forget you can also use the waste heat from a device (like a computer) to run a mechanical heat engine to generate power to help run the device. But only partially. I guess we don't do that much because it's probably not economically feasible. That's kind of what turbochargers in cars do though.