Temperature is not a measurement of heat, it is just something by itself. Fahrenheit, Celsius, and Kelvin are measurements of temperature.tahthing wrote:when the whole mech is hot it will take a very longtime to cool down so you need fans to remove the hot air.Rody wrote:Sometimes yes, BUT this energy can easily come from the heat itself.tahthing wrote:redirecting heat uses energy!
also heat naturally disperses to less hot parts.
on a related note: a stirling engine is an engine that uses heat as its energy source.
(note that there is a difference between heat and temperature)[/url]
while heat can be used as a energy source its highly inaficant and produces lots of excess heat (steam engines are great excamples of the inaficancy) and by using heat to remove heat you hit a ploblem you now have to produce more heat to remove the same heat!
(note that temprature is a measurement of heat)
Heat is the energy given off by a change in temperature. Heat is energy, that's it.
AND.
If there's nowhere for the heat/energy to go but one direction, it will only go that one direction. You don't need as much as you think to direct it. Heat could give energy to another function, such as a fan. The fan running would then produce more heat which would go in the same direction.
Say you have an engine connected to a long tube. Your engine is running and giving off heat. You want that heat to be directed down the tube. First, the heat is going to go down the tube, there's nowhere else to go. You then make sure that the tube is made out of an energy absorbing material which would then redirect the heat energy into a fan that is close to the engine. The fan would then push more heat out of the end of the tube.
Problem solved.
EDIT: Oh, and in steam engines, heat is not what is causing the heat. Fire is what is causing the heat. The heat is also not what is used for energy in a steam engine, the steam is, which turns whatever you want to do which in turn does whatever you want it to do.
Heat is energy. They are virtually synonymous. Any reaction produces heat. It's a by-product of a reaction. The fire or coal burning by the fire is a chemical reaction, which produces ash and carbon dioxide, but energy (heat) is released because of the reaction.
DOUBLE EDIT: 1300th post.
