Entropy - Science Theater 39

Entropy. It's why everything seems to break down and get messy. It is something that comes about when you have lots and lots of little things (like atoms) that can be in several possible "states" (no, not Florida). The more things or more states you have, the more entropy you're going to have. Dr. Carlson has entirely too much fun playing with coins and blocks while he tries to explain how Chemists think of Entropy. (Stay to the end and you'll even see a rubber band, whee!)

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Physics
• Chemistry
• Entropy
• thermodynamics
• experiment
• k12
• education
• demo
• coin flipping
• probability

[mizakzee]

So if you left enough blocks alone, one of them would pop up?

[sciencetheater]

@mizakzee Yes, yes one would. However, the internal energy needs to be at some sort of level... (in this case, think of it as if an earthquake came by... one just might end up popping up!)

[maco10810]

So like a magnet motor which we all know would not work but now we now have monel pieces on the wheel being attracted to a large neodium iron boron magnet - then we add the solar component either a magnifying glass or a Fresnel lens - but the plan is to heat the monel above its curie point so it looses its magnetism and the disc rotates please try it - many thanks

[sciencetheater]

@maco10810 It sounds like you are trying to add in energy to the system through solar heat/energy. I'm nearly positive it would be far more effective to simply use and engine running directly off the solar energy and dispense with the complex magnet setup.

[maco10810]

@sciencetheater Hi Thanks for writing back to me - sometimes in design a compromise has to be made - like cost verses efficiency - for very little money you could have a device that rotates for free from a free energy source - even if its only 1% efficient its still some thing "for nothing" so why care about the efficiency as long as long as its cheap and easy to make

[sciencetheater]

@maco10810 One has to be careful about tossing the phrase "for free" around. It will cost something to make, and it will eventually wear out. The question then becomes will it harvest enough energy during its lifetime to recoup any initial costs and maintenance? In my experience, the best hope for cheap energy generation usually avoids moving parts - which are notorious for wasting energy and tend to wear out (relatively) quickly.

[eliotcougar]

@mizakzee Ofcourse, some random guy will eventrually pass by, randomly take one block and place it upright...

[socratus1]

Entropy Henry Poincare named the conception of "entropy " as a " surprising abstract " Lev Landau wrote: " A question about the physical basis of the entropy monotonous increasing law remains open " One physicist said : " The entropy is only a shadow of energy“ # History of Entropy 1 - Clausius : dS= dQ / T. 2 - Boltzmann : S= k log W 3 - Planck : h*f = kT logW # The formula of Entropy is : h*f = kT logW Israel Sadovnik Socratus 

[israelsocratus]

Henry Poincare named the conception of "entropy "

as a " surprising abstract " Lev Landau wrote:

" A question about the physical basis of the

entropy monotonous increasing law remains open "

One physicist said :

" The entropy is only a shadow of energy“

Israel Sadovnik Socratus

[maco10810]

Monels Currie temp is only some thing like 35 deg C.

You cant make a solar panel at home, i dont think so, but maybe its possible, If it is I would love to know how.

[sciencetheater]

@GronTheMighty Gron is right here. In any transfer of heat, you're going to have some inefficiency. (Think about it as a hot and cold spot, if you move heat from the hot spot into the cold spot, eventually, the cold spot will get warmer...)