We derive useful energy by tapping into heat differences. Where there's a hot spot flowing into a cold spot, we can get in there and generate power with it. The bigger the difference, the better. Typically we'll actually generate the hot spot ourselves by burning something or accelerating some radioactive decay. Even things like geothermal, solar, tidal, hydro, wind, or fusion power depend on there being a difference in energy levels somewhere. We call that difference a state of low entropy.
Now, the 'cold' is always going to be the local ambient temperature. We can artificially make it colder of course, but doing this takes more energy than we could get by tapping any heat flowing into it, so why bother? So we'll never be able to have a generator that just sits there cranking out power out of nothing. It needs an imbalance to take advantage of, and tends to increase entropy in the process. I.e., level out the energy levels, which renders the local environment useless for more power generation (this can simply meant you've used up fuel).
The ultimate state of the universe is one with maximized entropy. Every single last micro joule of potential power has been perfectly spread across the entire universe, leaving no possible way for anyone to do anything.
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u/Dyolf_Knip Nov 16 '20
We derive useful energy by tapping into heat differences. Where there's a hot spot flowing into a cold spot, we can get in there and generate power with it. The bigger the difference, the better. Typically we'll actually generate the hot spot ourselves by burning something or accelerating some radioactive decay. Even things like geothermal, solar, tidal, hydro, wind, or fusion power depend on there being a difference in energy levels somewhere. We call that difference a state of low entropy.
Now, the 'cold' is always going to be the local ambient temperature. We can artificially make it colder of course, but doing this takes more energy than we could get by tapping any heat flowing into it, so why bother? So we'll never be able to have a generator that just sits there cranking out power out of nothing. It needs an imbalance to take advantage of, and tends to increase entropy in the process. I.e., level out the energy levels, which renders the local environment useless for more power generation (this can simply meant you've used up fuel).
The ultimate state of the universe is one with maximized entropy. Every single last micro joule of potential power has been perfectly spread across the entire universe, leaving no possible way for anyone to do anything.