1042
Heat
(lemmy.ca)
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 30 Apr 2026
1042 points (99.2% liked)
Science Memes
20273 readers
453 users here now
Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!
A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.
Rules
- Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
- Keep it rooted (on topic).
- No spam.
- Infographics welcome, get schooled.
This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.
Research Committee
Other Mander Communities
Science and Research
Biology and Life Sciences
- !abiogenesis@mander.xyz
- !animal-behavior@mander.xyz
- !anthropology@mander.xyz
- !arachnology@mander.xyz
- !balconygardening@slrpnk.net
- !biodiversity@mander.xyz
- !biology@mander.xyz
- !biophysics@mander.xyz
- !botany@mander.xyz
- !ecology@mander.xyz
- !entomology@mander.xyz
- !fermentation@mander.xyz
- !herpetology@mander.xyz
- !houseplants@mander.xyz
- !medicine@mander.xyz
- !microscopy@mander.xyz
- !mycology@mander.xyz
- !nudibranchs@mander.xyz
- !nutrition@mander.xyz
- !palaeoecology@mander.xyz
- !palaeontology@mander.xyz
- !photosynthesis@mander.xyz
- !plantid@mander.xyz
- !plants@mander.xyz
- !reptiles and amphibians@mander.xyz
Physical Sciences
- !astronomy@mander.xyz
- !chemistry@mander.xyz
- !earthscience@mander.xyz
- !geography@mander.xyz
- !geospatial@mander.xyz
- !nuclear@mander.xyz
- !physics@mander.xyz
- !quantum-computing@mander.xyz
- !spectroscopy@mander.xyz
Humanities and Social Sciences
Practical and Applied Sciences
- !exercise-and sports-science@mander.xyz
- !gardening@mander.xyz
- !self sufficiency@mander.xyz
- !soilscience@slrpnk.net
- !terrariums@mander.xyz
- !timelapse@mander.xyz
Memes
Miscellaneous
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
Is a heating element actually 100% efficient, though?
Some of the energy is converted to light.
100% of the energy is converted to light, its just in the IR spectrum.
Unless u feed the heater with AC power then you are also generating magnetic fields/radio waves....but those are also just photons (light) with a very long wavelengh.....
Space heaters mostly heat by convective heating, where the heat energy is transferred from the element to the air molecules around it. This doesn't involve infrared radiation (though in practice it is involved because any object above 0 K radiates infrared).
You reminded me of a certain video (or videos?) on quantum fields that I watched a few months back. Truly fascinating subject.
Which unless it goes out through a window would eventually be turned into heat anyway, right?
Yeah it's still thermal radiation, us being able to see it isn't a disqualifier :p
The way I think of it is that an electric heating element is nearly 100% inefficient. What if it was any other electronic component? If it was and we calculated the efficiency of the circuit it's efficiency coefficient would be nearly 0. It's just that in this situation we want an inefficient system because we want to produce heat rather than work.
And yes heat pumps are better but that's not what I am writing about.
It practically is. An incandescent lightbulb is a slightly inefficient resistance heater since it emits some power as visible light. That probably ends up as heat in the room when it's absorbed anyway.
Heat pumps move heat from outside to inside, and they use less energy than the amount that is brought into the insulated area, resulting in efficiency numbers over 100%. (less energy used than the amount brought inside was used to bring the inside energy levels up)
https://www.cnet.com/home/energy-and-utilities/a-heat-pump-is-more-than-100-efficient-yes-really-heres-how/