2 ms·
The system isn't closed. You're functionally drawing solar energy off the system very inefficiently (if you wanted kinetic motion). A different way to look at
by XorNot 1y ago
The system isn't closed.
You're functionally drawing solar energy off the system very inefficiently (if you wanted kinetic motion).
A different way to look at the problem is that you can't have water spontaneously move up hill, but if you dam a river you can absolutely extract useful energy from it.
A turbine underneath the ocean could extract energy from ocean currents and this is the same problem.
- shiandow 1y agoSo according to you you could simply lower a membrane and a pipe into a still body of salt water and it would spontaneously separate into sweet water and brine until the build up of brine prevented this from continuing? Yeah I am still not seeing it. If that were the thermal equilibrium I don't see how it wouldn't separate spontaneously, or why you can mix salt and water with no input of energy whatsoever. It goes against anything I know about entropy and osmotic pressure.
- XorNot 1y agoAt this point you are simply arguing reverse osmosis is impossible. There is no functional difference between mechanically creating a pressure differential across the membrane with a pump, and lowering a membrane deep enough that the pressure differential can drive the process.
- shiandow 1y agoReverse osmosis without work is indeed impossible.