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#385620
Mog
*headdesk*
*headdesk*
*headdesk*
1/19/2008 7:08:59 PM
#437011
buhjones
Do you know what any of the things that you just discussed are?
3/18/2008 3:20:56 AM
#437381
Brain_In_A_Jar
Not quite as stupid as it would seem - if the earth converted all of the heat it receives from the sun into useful mechanical work, it would be a perpetual motion machine of the second kind. For any mechanism to produce useful mechanical work output from thermal energy input, there has to be a certain amount of this heat that is dumped back out of it again at a lower temperature - it can't use all of it. I believe, in the case of the earth, that this would be the heat that radiates out into space from the side of the planet that faces away from the sun, but I've never bothered to analyse a control volume of the entire planet in terms of a heat engine. It might be an interesting intellectual exercise for me to do some day.
3/18/2008 2:19:46 PM
#437426
Caustic Gnostic
I agree. The sun/wet-planet combination seems to cause the perpetual motion machine known as Weather ... that is, until one of the components changes its configuration. At that point, another "perpetual" mechanism will likely take place.
3/18/2008 3:17:13 PM
#437448
David B.
Yes (for a very, very small value of perpetuity).
3/18/2008 3:51:24 PM
#1283053
Quantum Mechanic
Please die.
Just die.
4/27/2011 9:55:57 AM
#1299233
Quantum Mechanic
Please die.
Just die.
6/13/2011 1:41:08 PM
#1387047
Saringuy
le wild epic fa-
whaaaa! kill it with fire!!! RUN!!! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!
3/29/2012 1:09:18 AM
#1387063
Tempus
Yes, just exactly like how an appliance you plug into a wall socket for power is a perpetual motion machine.
3/29/2012 2:27:31 AM
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