J
Jerramy
Guest
So I've been learning about Heat Pumps. By the investment of some work (in the classical sense), you can sort the entropy, with the added work landing in the temperature of the warmer object.<br /><br />The efficiency of this is maxed at (T1-T2)/(T1+T2). The closer the two temperatures are, the more efficient it is. Scale is in Kalvin, of course.<br /><br />So take a heat pump. When it is at room temperuature, it's efficiency is near infinite. At +100 degrees, it's still 2/3 efficient. Invest 1 joule of energy, and create a seperation of 100 degrees, cold on the outside, warm on the inside. Like a fridge, inside out.<br /><br />Heat is energy. Forget about the cold parts for now, and just look at the hot bit in the middle. If I throw water at that, it will make a hella lot of steam. Remember, I've already taken a fair bit of heat/energy out of the surrounding mass (many people bury these in the ground). All that heat is converted to energy.<br /><br />Steam generation can be up to 99% efficent, What comes out in the end is water droplets, at a degree above room temperature.<br /><br />So my question is, if I've taken all that heat out of the surrounding land, and converted it to electricity via steam generation, and all that energy flows down the wire, have I added to the total electricity that I got for throwing fossil fuel at it, or have I simply wasted it on my glorified resistor?<br /><br />It seems to me, that if the fuel is burnt, and the land is cold, that all that energy had to go -somewhere-.<br /><br />I think I organized it and cooled my environment to boot. A generator that gets too cold instead of too hot.<br /><br />Have I either:<br /><br />A. Violated a physical law,<br />B. Invalidated a physical "law" (note the quotes), or<br />C. Fooled my self into thinking something is possible when it ain't.<br /> <br />