Hot Cup of Coffee vs. ENTROPY
Cold Does Not Exist!!!
Heat is a measure of the kinetic energy (movement or vibrations) of molecules. The hotter a substance, such as water or steel, the greater the kinetic energy (movement or vibrations) of the molecules in that substance. Less hot objects, sometimes called “cold” have molecules with less kinetic energy.
Thus objects and substances are not cold and do not get cold, they always contain a measure of heat, and they get less hot. So in my jug here, I do not have a refreshing iced beverage, I have a refreshing less hot beverage.
Question: How Less Hot can you go?
Journey to Absolute Zero - • Journey to Absolute Zero
Heat flows from hot to cool objects because as the particles move they share their kinetic energy with other particles through collisions. Hot water molecules bump against the molecules of a coffee cup, increasing the vibrations in the molecules of the cup. This transfer of energy as heat will continue until the system reaches a state called, where both objects are the same temperature, and all the bumping around settles settles to match the environment surrounding it.
Thermal equilibrium - • What is the Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics?
The direction of heat from high concentration to low concentration is explained by the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, commonly simplified to the single term
Entropy
As simply as possible Entropy is the universal tendency for ordered systems to gradually decline into disorder.
When considering making things hot or cold remember that heat is always moving toward thermal equilibrium. Attempting to make a substance or object hot or cold is very much like attempting to build a Sand Castle or dig a hole on a beach.
And once you stop working to build a castle or dig a hole, they will both gradually decline toward perfect sea level and the beach will appear as though you never existed.
Before you think this is overwhelming bleak…
REMEMBER!!!
…its fun to build sand castles on the beach…and don’t you remember Joey digging his hole on the beach on that friends episode? Without entropy the universe would be dead, inert, there would be no movement and nothing would or could happen. Entropy, like gravity or electromagnetism or light, is simply one of the operations of the game and once you understand this you can start to play with it. Thus, I was able to melt copper and aluminum in my back yard. Thus, building a great structure of any type is a grand achievement. The structures you create are monuments to your victories and triumphs against the eternal foe, Entropy.
Heat always moves towards equilibrium.
We can see small examples of this, as presented before, but this is also true of the entire universe, where the concentrated and organized heat of stars is slowly dispersing throughout the void. Luckily this precess of entropy takes time…indeed is what creates time. This is why time seems to be moving, and seem only to move in one direction. Entropy is the reason we experience time.
Understanding that heat is movement, we can ask the question how does heat move. There are three primary ways heat moves.
Conduction - this is when heat is transferred through direct contact - as observed when heating a pan to cook food or a spoon warming up in a hot cup of tea.
Convection - is the circular motion that happens when warmer air or liquid — which has faster moving molecules, making it less dense — rises, while the cooler air or liquid drops down - As observed in the rising heat of a candle causing a spiral of aluminum foil to rotate, or the food in an oven being cooked by the circulating heat.
Radiation - is energy that is radiated or transmitted in the form of electromagnetic waves such as light or microwaves - a microwave literally shakes the molecules of food causing the temperature of your burrito to increase. The energy of light for example can be observed in the varied internal temperatures of a black container versus a reflective contain left in the sun.
Through these three methods of transfer, heat is nearly impossible to contain or resist. Consider a thermos with hot liquid. The design decreases the rate of heat transfer but does not stop it. When we used our backyard furnace to melt copper and aluminum much of the struggle was against entropy, as most of the heat generated by burning propane was lost through
conduction, the heat moving from the furnace to the ground,
convection, the heat rising out of the furnace top in exhaust,
and radiation as seen as the light of the glowing orange furnace.
p.s. Video games often create worlds free from entropy, which is one of the reasons they are so fun. Also, as young teenagers, you are fast approaching your first face-to-face engagement with the ugliest of entropy pits…owning a car. Cars fall apart over time…they do not become the new 2020 model. Oh the money you will spend keeping your car afloat in a ruthless sea of entropy…have fun.