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Dec. 25th, 2010 01:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sathorDoes energy perfectly convert from one form to another? Is truly no energy lost?
The importance of the question is high, indeed - if, for instance, there were a net loss of nutrients from life to death and recomposition into the soil, then eventually there would be no nutrients left for new life to arise from, and all life as we know it would cease to exist. This is because our planet is finite, and without some kind of way to generate additional energy to make up for any lost in conversion, eventually a barren wasteland will be all that remains. A hardened rocky surface, beaten by asteroids - with vicious dust storms, and a thin atmosphere, just like our brother Mars.
The importance of the question is high, indeed - if, for instance, there were a net loss of nutrients from life to death and recomposition into the soil, then eventually there would be no nutrients left for new life to arise from, and all life as we know it would cease to exist. This is because our planet is finite, and without some kind of way to generate additional energy to make up for any lost in conversion, eventually a barren wasteland will be all that remains. A hardened rocky surface, beaten by asteroids - with vicious dust storms, and a thin atmosphere, just like our brother Mars.
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Date: 2010-12-27 07:45 pm (UTC)yes, it would be really bad if our planet were a closed system and did not have lots of external energy coming in, say from a largish free-standing hydrogen fusion reaction about eight light-minutes away.
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Date: 2010-12-28 12:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-28 04:15 pm (UTC)today's quote: a mystic is someone who wants to understand the universe, but is too lazy to study physics.
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Date: 2010-12-28 05:19 pm (UTC)The law of entropy is something that I am keenly aware of, maybe it had something to do with me questioning whether ALL energy will persist indefinitely.
I would be a Mystic. But not by choice. Well, I'm not lazy - more just scared of getting average grades.