this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2024
248 points (97.3% liked)

Showerthoughts

30550 readers
201 users here now

A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted, clever little truths, hidden in daily life.

Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts: 1

Rules

  1. All posts must be showerthoughts
  2. The entire showerthought must be in the title
  3. No politics
    • If your topic is in a grey area, please phrase it to emphasize the fascinating aspects, not the dramatic aspects. You can do this by avoiding overly politicized terms such as "capitalism" and "communism". If you must make comparisons, you can say something is different without saying something is better/worse.
    • A good place for politics is c/politicaldiscussion
    • If you feel strongly that you want politics back, please volunteer as a mod.
  4. Posts must be original/unique
  5. Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct

If you made it this far, showerthoughts is accepting new mods. This community is generally tame so its not a lot of work, but having a few more mods would help reports get addressed a little sooner.

Whats it like to be a mod? Reports just show up as messages in your Lemmy inbox, and if a different mod has already addressed the report the message goes away and you never worry about it.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

If a machine is never 100% efficient transforming energy into work because part of the energy is converted into heat, does it mean an electric heater is 100% efficient? @showerthoughts@lemmy.world

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] lolcatnip@reddthat.com 3 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Consuming energy to do something the device isn't intended to do is the definition of inefficiency. You've basically redefined efficiency so as to make it meaningless.

[–] FiskFisk33@startrek.website 11 points 11 months ago

What are you confused about?
That's why they phrased it "also basically 100% efficient space heaters."

Every electric device is a something% effective whatever work they are meant for device, but ALSO a 100% effective space heater.
That second part is meaningless to the devices normal function, but very relevant to the post question.

[–] Kissaki@feddit.de 7 points 11 months ago

They didn't redefine efficiency. They changed the purpose scoping.

[–] Jimmycrackcrack@lemmy.ml 2 points 11 months ago

It would be meaningless, were it not for the context of the question it is answering. All of the electrical energy consumed is being turned in to heat in all those cases making it indeed possible to make a 100% efficient heater using electricity as was asked. The fact that that is orthogonal to the purpose of the machines is only relevant in as much as that's why they were chosen as illustrative examples, showing that even when you're not trying to, you end up making 100% efficient space heaters from electrical devices.