Pfft. Making things hotter is easy. The fact that we can regularly make things colder and hold them at that colder temperature is what's actually impressive in thermodynamics
this post was submitted on 23 Oct 2025
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Pfft the absolute human hubris to hold up these entropic sleight-of-hand tricks as impressive. Nature abhors a refrigerator. Heaters are the ultimate power in the universe.
Our entire existence is a temporary rebellion against entropy. In light of that, hubris seems inevitable. I reckon a little bit of it is useful for us
You inspired me
I do not fear the motion of my feet.
Though every step be toward the final bourn,
I see no path to orderly retreat.
The energy assigned in brief to me
No art preserves, no science can reform.
And so I boldly choose what is to be
The range and purpose of my tiny mete.
I will not, while I can, myself pre-mourn,
But rage, rage against the rising of the heat.
Refrigeration cycle scoffs at your mere 100% efficiency
Nah this thing puts out light and probably vibrates as well, so not even 100%.
Well ultimately it all becomes heat. Maybe a tiny amount escapes a window or something. So we could say 99%.
But heat pumps still reign supreme, at least until it gets super cold.
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Not true, it is true that it is heating at %100 efficiency that is to say %100 of the electrical energy is being transferred into heat (although technically some is being transferred into IR light not necessarily what you want) but your goal is probably not to simply create heat your goal is probably to heat the room or at least yourself and their is plenty of waste heat going off into space somewhere also you can achieve more than %100 heat transfer by compressing the external air's heat we call these heat pumps and they can achieve +400%. The key word is efficiency.
It’s always wild to me that 100% heating efficiency is actually kinda not great. Also the fact that we can use the heat from air that is colder than what we want in order to generate more heat I mean that’s just witchcraft.
Well, we're not generating heat with heat pumps. We're compressing atoms to make them angrier and pass other atoms by that bunch to even out the angriness. Could also substitute the word jiggy for angry.
Huh, so what if the jiggy atoms come in contact with batman atoms?
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I always like to muse that in terms of electronics the heat is caused by resistance to current and that heat is usually considered inefficiency, and since no other load exist or work is done that means heating elements are about -100% efficient.
ir light is heat dawg
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My cat agrees.
So does our Colombian red tail boa! :D
EDIT: That's just a little heat coil with a fan though in the cold months. Be very careful and research heavily before blasting IR light at reptiles!
Pfftt. Splitting wood is peak heat thermodynamics. And I can attest it keeps you warm down to -40F.
If you want to make heat, start up a gaming PC. At least the energy will go to doing something before it gets turned to heat.
I legitimately had to buy a heater after I stopped regularly using my desktop because it was what was keeping my room warm.
At that point you might as well run Folding@home on your PC just to act as a heater. It's literally a win-win for you and for society.
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Everyone here is talking about heat pumps for being more efficient. pfft
Got one of these bad boys for my patio. Highly recommended if you wait for a sale.
not gonna lie I yearn for a future where its not a joke but I was born too early
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I don't think my it will fit on my porch.
you really should not talk about your MIL like this
Well, heat pumps are significantly more efficient than traditional heaters because they move heat rather than generating it. A heat pump can deliver three to four times more heat energy than the electrical energy it consumes, making them 300-400% efficient.
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Boo, get heat pump you loser
Most of the time, we consider heat output to be inefficient. It only works here because heat happens to be its purpose.
You could say it's 0% efficient.
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