Where does energy go after it's spent?

[finaldeathh]

Is there any way that energy is recycles after it's used? We know that a lot of things go through natural cycles, most familar is the water cycle. Where does energy go besides the reaction it causes? <br /><br />Also, where does light go after it hits a wall?

 

[kmarinas86]

Thermal Energy in the form of molecular vibration (heat) and Infrared Radiation (as a result of friction and molecule building chemical reactions). Kinetic Motion (a transfer of chemical energy to thermal energy to kinetic movement (due to molecular kinetic push), ex. rockets). Elastic Potential Energy changes to heat (ex. rubberband strecthing).<br /><br />Energy is not lost, but work is done. Energy is where the work is happening.<br /><br />After energy is done being spent on Earth, it goes to space to be used elsewhere in the form of electromagnetic radiation.<br /><br />Energy cannot be deleted.<br /><br /><font color="yellow">Also, where does light go after it hits a wall?</font><br /><br />Several possibilities.<br />It is either absorbed (dark wall), reflected (shiny wall), or transmitted (pass through, if it's glass).<br />If it a photon is absorbed, then it can be reemitted by the atom. Dark materials do not reemit as many photons as light materials.

 

[adzel_3000]

What you seem to be asking can be found by considering the law of conservation of energy. The energy we encounter and use in our everyday lives has always been with us since the beginning of the universe and always will be with us. It just changes form.<br /><br />Energy can be found in many systems (like ice cream falling off a cone and landing on a warm summer pavement….that is a system of energy transfer) and in many forms. <br /><br />Energy might be most simply described as having 2 forms that would include:<br /><br />1. Potential energy in objects at rest that will make them move if resistance (opposition to motion) is removed. <br /><br />2. Kinetic energy in objects that are moving. <br /><br />Please note that all matter, right down to basic molecules and atoms, has a huge amount of energy, as Einstein's E = mc^2 pointed out. Energy can also travel in the form of electromagnetic waves, such as the light you asked about that hits a wall. Electromagnetic waves are also seen as heat, radio, and high energy rays. <br /><br />Energy is constantly flowing and in flux. Indeed, if you have recently eaten (or not) your body is using metabolic energy. Rub your hands together. What is the energy transition? Well, you used your metabolic energy to rub your hands together and in so doing turned metabolic energy into mechanical energy. Your hands, I bet, “heated” up. The “heat-up” occurs when the mechanical energy turned into heat energy. <br /><br />So energy can change form, but where did that energy ultimately come from? Consider a series of everyday occurrences. A skate-board & rider are rolling down a steep driveway, transferring potential energy into kinetic (movement) energy. The skate-board got its potential energy (energy due to position related to gravity) by the rider using metabolic energy to move the board. The motion of the rider’s feet used mechanical energy to push against the ground, which moved the 4 wheels. The rider's metabolic energy came from chemical energy

 

[vogon13]

And to add to this, apparent decrease in entropy on earth as a result of life, evolution, etc. is offset by a drastic increase in entropy on sun.<br /><br />This point is rarely acknowledged by the ID and creationist camps. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[kmarinas86]

<font color="yellow">So in reality there is very little you can do to recycle energy efficiently.</font><br /><br />True. The energy could be recycled in a open universe system. In my Cyclical Multiverse Theory (an open universe model) there is proposed to be someway to collect energies that are wasted into space and collect them into masses in ordered to be recycled into a new "big expansion".<br /><br />If the universe is a closed system, it will die with the increase in entropy.<br /><br />United we stand, alone we fall.

 

[Saiph]

well, the energy is being dispersed here as well. Creating crystals, molecules, etc, usually releases energy as well, which increases local entropy.<br /><br />But yeah, anything we do here, even if there <i>is</i> a net decrease in local entropy, the sun definetly makes up for it. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p align="center"><font color="#c0c0c0"><br /></font></p><p align="center"><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">--------</font></em></font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">--------</font></em></font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">----</font></em></font><font color="#666699">SaiphMOD@gmail.com </font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">-------------------</font></em></font></p><p><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">"This is my Timey Wimey Detector.  Goes "bing" when there's stuff.  It also fries eggs at 30 paces, wether you want it to or not actually.  I've learned to stay away from hens: It's not pretty when they blow" -- </font></em></font><font size="1" color="#999999">The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[Saiph]

as for the main question of where energy goes after it's "spent"...<br /><br />energy isn't spent. It's converted from one form to another (or even to mass).<br /><br />So where does it go? No where, it just gets shifted around. And really there is only 2 types of energy, Kinetic and Potential (or stored energy). Now, it's stored in different ways (so there are sub-types of potential).<br /><br />Now, the transfer is rarely efficient, in the sense that you try to put lots of energy into a baseball to throw it, but some gets "wasted". That's just the energy being shifted to forms (or to objects) that aren't desired. Namely "thermal" energy, which is basically being spent on moving and vibrating the molecules. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p align="center"><font color="#c0c0c0"><br /></font></p><p align="center"><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">--------</font></em></font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">--------</font></em></font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">----</font></em></font><font color="#666699">SaiphMOD@gmail.com </font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">-------------------</font></em></font></p><p><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">"This is my Timey Wimey Detector.  Goes "bing" when there's stuff.  It also fries eggs at 30 paces, wether you want it to or not actually.  I've learned to stay away from hens: It's not pretty when they blow" -- </font></em></font><font size="1" color="#999999">The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[yevaud]

Solar insloation results in about 3,000 watts per/ M^2 at the TOA (Top of the Atomsphere). <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Differential Diagnosis:  </em>"<strong><em>I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are</em></strong>."<br /> </p> </div>

 

[alpha_taur1]

"They are doomed to eventual elimination because of the irresistable power of the universe."<br /><br />Eventually yes, but how long will we last? <br /><br />I think mankind will cling on to existence, possibly even after the sun goes nova. We could have evolved a great deal in 5 billion years. I can see that we have the technology to colonise at least the solar system if not nearby systems eventually. There are ways of generating energy for survival, even on Titan.<br /><br />There is plenty of time to develop the technology. If the bulk of humanity was not so damned introspective and indecisive, we could have at least landed a human expedition to Mars by now.