this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2024
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Showerthoughts
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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. A showerthought should offer a unique perspective on an ordinary part of life.
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The sound will eventually dissipate in the air as heat. The light will be absorbed into surfaces, like any other radiation, as heat. Still 100%, but with a couple extra stops along the way.
All energy output will eventually become heat. Why bother measuring efficiency at all if we're counting those aftereffects?
Only heaters are a machine where the "good" output is one you want to be heat.
For other devices the heat is the bad part.
But since your goal with a heater... is to generate heat... and all energy eventually will become heat, it is close to 100% efficient.
If you can hear the heater's sound it makes in a room/area you don't want to be heating though, now it's <100% efficient as a tiny bit of energy became heat that heated the non ideal location.
Fun fact: this phenomenon is what causes the infamous "hot ear" effect that many people suffer from every day.
Yeah I mean you’d have to consider the practical factors such as how quickly or evenly they can heat up a room rather than worry so much about the raw efficiency.