Why stop at appliances? By that logic, humans are nothing more than self-propelled heaters.
ironhydroxide@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
If you really think about it. All any appliance does is turn energy into heat.
SkyNTP@lemmy.ml 21 hours ago
Branch_Ranch@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
I read somewhere that when engineers are designing home heating/ cooling systems, they factor in the number of humans in a home as 100 watts each. I think dogs are 50 watts.
ironhydroxide@sh.itjust.works 20 hours ago
Are we not?
tdawg@lemmy.world 18 hours ago
There was a paper floating around about a decade ago. Basically it was asserting that biological life is the natural outcome of entropy itself. Bc living beings are especially good at increasing entropy over time. Not sure if it was credible but a fun idea nontheless
hperrin@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
False. My water filter pitcher does not turn energy into heat.
(Ok, fine, it uses gravity to move the water through a filter, which technically converts some of the potential energy of the water into heat through friction, but that’s not something the pitcher does, that’s something the earth does that the pitcher uses to its advantage.)
shalafi@lemmy.world 18 hours ago
Not an appliance, that’s a tool.
hperrin@lemmy.ca 18 hours ago
I would say it falls under definition 2b here:
stelelor@lemmy.ca 7 hours ago
Oooh I love debating semantics. Is a sieve an appliance? A slotted spoon? They both work in the same way as your water filter.
Common usage of the quantifier kitchen appliances indicates use of electricity. I would describe my electric coffee grinder as a small appliance, but not my mortar and pestle.
papalonian@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Saying that all appliances turn energy to heat is true, but saying that all appliances do is turn energy in to heat is not. While heat is still a byproduct, lots of appliances make things move as well.
yesman@lemmy.world 1 day ago
For heat pumps, the thing they’re moving is heat.
chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world 19 hours ago
They’re really moving refrigerant. It’s just that the refrigerant keeps changing temperature (heating up at one end of the journey and cooling down at the other end).
apprehensively_human@lemmy.ca 40 minutes ago
More specifically, we force it to undergo phase changes under different pressures, and in doing so it absorbs/releases latent heat in the air. It’s converting latent heat to sensible heat.
ironhydroxide@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
And what is that movent? Eventually decays into heat.
papalonian@lemmy.world 23 hours ago
I understand that, and called it out in my comment. Heat being a byproduct of movement does not mean that a device that creates movement “only” creates heat. That’s like saying all drink dispensers only dispense piss, because what does it eventually turn in to?