Science and Exploration

[dreadgeek]

Originally Posted by Midnight

Great article. It seems that with this superfluid you could make a perpetual engine for power (once all the leaks are resolved!) Mind you that means the world economies would crash!

Midnight:

Actually, whatever else you might be able to do with superfluid helium one thing you *can't* do is make a perpetual engine. The Second Law of Thermodynamics utterly precludes any type of perpetual motion machine. The reason is that perpetual motion machines violate either of the aforementioned laws.

Perpetual motion machines of the First Kind violate the First law of Thermodynamics because they do work without an input of energy. Energy is conserved in a closed system (the Universe is a closed system, the Earth is not) which means you cannot create new energy and you can't destroy existing energy you can only transform it from state to state.

Perpetual motion machines of the Second Kind (which is the kind under discussion here) violate the Second Law because in any system where work is done there is some loss due to inefficiencies. That can't be eliminated no matter how hard you try. This means that even if you could harness the superfluid helium to drive a turbine, say, you would *still* lose some energy due to friction which would, eventually, run down the power source.

You might be able to build an exceedingly long-lived power source from superfluid helium but it wouldn't be a perpetual energy source.

Cheers
Aj

[mariamma]

This looks interesting. I wonder if there will be real world applications for it.

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2012/09/12/15544/

Note the limitations, though: you have to start with a penis. There are relatively few of those to spare, although since histocompatibility matching isn’t an issue, it ought to be doable as part of an organ donor program — we’ll just grab the penis as well as the corneas and kidneys. This procedure does not regrow the entire penis, but just the spongy erectile tissue in the core; this is implanted into the sheath of skin of the normal penis. I know all you body modification fans are dreaming of the day you can have multiple penises, but this isn’t quite there yet, and sorry, I should hope injured people who need the procedure get priority over cosmetic uses.

But here’s the astonishing thing: it works. The procedure has only been tested in rabbits so far, but with amazing success. I know what you are saying. You are saying, “Really? Then show me the bunny penises, with erections.” And I will.

[Corkey]

http://news.yahoo.com/enormous-roman...191743498.html


Enormous Roman mosaic found under farmers field.

[Midnight]

http://au.news.yahoo.com/technology/...-than-thought/

Make it so!

[Midnight]

Originally Posted by dreadgeek

Midnight:

Actually, whatever else you might be able to do with superfluid helium one thing you *can't* do is make a perpetual engine. The Second Law of Thermodynamics utterly precludes any type of perpetual motion machine. The reason is that perpetual motion machines violate either of the aforementioned laws.

Perpetual motion machines of the First Kind violate the First law of Thermodynamics because they do work without an input of energy. Energy is conserved in a closed system (the Universe is a closed system, the Earth is not) which means you cannot create new energy and you can't destroy existing energy you can only transform it from state to state.

Perpetual motion machines of the Second Kind (which is the kind under discussion here) violate the Second Law because in any system where work is done there is some loss due to inefficiencies. That can't be eliminated no matter how hard you try. This means that even if you could harness the superfluid helium to drive a turbine, say, you would *still* lose some energy due to friction which would, eventually, run down the power source.

You might be able to build an exceedingly long-lived power source from superfluid helium but it wouldn't be a perpetual energy source.

Cheers
Aj

Agreed. After further research (before I read your post) superfluids would just flow around, say a waterwheel, instead of exerting energy against it to create movement. Shame!

[dreadgeek]

Originally Posted by Midnight

Agreed. After further research (before I read your post) superfluids would just flow around, say a waterwheel, instead of exerting energy against it to create movement. Shame!

Isn't it though? But superfluids are one of those things that I just think are intrinsically cool. Even if there is *never* a practical application for them (and likely there will be practical applications we can't dream of now) from a purely aesthetic point of view, I like living in a universe where the laws of physics allow for such exotic states of matter.

Cheers
Aj

[Corkey]

http://news.yahoo.com/50-million-old...231502312.html


50 Million y/o chunk of Redwood found in diamond mine in Canada.

[Toughy]

The Science Channel has a new weekly series called The Code. It is about math holding the code or key to everything from music to how branches on a tree are formed to fractals......way good highly recommend it.

A new season of Curiosity is also starting.

I couldn't figure out where to post these fascinating little tidbits of news about good science related TV.........so I put it here.....

[Corkey]

Originally Posted by Toughy

The Science Channel has a new weekly series called The Code. It is about math holding the code or key to everything from music to how branches on a tree are formed to fractals......way good highly recommend it.

A new season of Curiosity is also starting.

I couldn't figure out where to post these fascinating little tidbits of news about good science related TV.........so I put it here.....

Good choice, I'll be looking for the shows.

[Kelt]

Sadly Code is not on either netflix or amazon

Curiosity is only on amazon for rent, not on the free list

(I hate commercials enough to disallow them, streaming or nothing in this house)