Does 1 watt of energy create same heat no matter form of use?

Referencing eventual heat death of the universe is not particularly practical. The OP’s question does not involve a closed system, and it is also not dealing with astronomical time scales.

In the context of this question, the answer is no, not all energy is converted to heat as the energy is also converted to forms other than heat, mostly radiant and maybe sound/mechanical as well…

There’s a reason we called Thermodynamics “Thermo-G*ddammit”.

Not all energy expended is (immediately) converted to heat. For a 100W light bulb, some is converted to heat, some to light. For a motor, some converted to heat, some to rotational motion, etc. The electrical heat coil is designed to convert the energy from electrical to heat.

One interesting example is if you have a 50W fan in a closed room. The electric motor and fan may be 90% efficient at moving air, but all 50W will go towards heating the room.

if all 50 watts go toward heating the room, what goes towards spinning the fan? cuz you can’t have all 50w go into heat, and another 40w (based on efficiency of electric motor) go into spinning the fan ,when only 50w supplied

beauty of physics, is that we do not have to guess, there are formulas and we can calculate btu produced in each case. , i’m not strong in that regard, i’m more into practical applications, i may not know why it works, or does not, but i know what will work and what wont.

The 40W would go towards moving air, initially creating a breeze. But imagine if you turned the fan off. The large-scale air currents in the room would stop probably within a minute. That large scale motion would be converted to smaller scale molecular motion, through friction, which is manifested as an increase in air temperature.

Yes. Unless some of the light, or heat escapes by radiation for instance.

Your motor’s watts of electric input, can convert to mechanical energy. Then, it will not make heat, if it is used to raise weights and store the energy until it falls.
Or compress a spring, or pump water up hill.

A watt of sound would also heat the air or box walls the same amount, unless it too partially escapes. Even if it does, it will eventually cause dispersed heating air along its path until it is reduced to zero.

I did a project once with an electrician who was working to save money for his next attempt to produce a perpetual motion machine. His previous attempts had resulted in the break up of his marriage and loss of his home, yet he was still convinced that he could succeed. He couldn’t see that frictional losses would inevitably convert his kinetic energy to heat energy.

You should rephrase your question as such:

My question is this, an electrical heating coil, an LED light bulb, an incandescent light bulb, or an electric motor, say all run the exact same wattage of 500 watts at 120 volts. If you were to build a perfect box that can capture the entire electromagnetic spectrum and is completely isolated from all matter around them and measure the heat over an infinite period of time would they all be equal?

I wonder if the answers here would change.

Pffft. Toilet-paper over the roll or under the roll, people will argue and fight about anything and not let it go no matter what. :person_facepalming:

if the box is totally insulated, any heat source will produce continually rising temperature
because it cannot escape

wle

So all this means the cat is dead then, right?

You won’t know till you open the box.

But wouldn’t it’s body be putting out heat that would change the heat of the box?
Maybe the box is a Yeti cooler……………Hmmm :slight_smile:

The inventor of perforated rolls of toilet paper submitted his patent showing the sheet laying over the top. This was in the late 1800’s. So, by design, over the top is correct.

So my lights are all over the top. :stuck_out_tongue:

Does an XP-G2 at 1 watt make the light the same temperature as an XHP-70.2 at 1 watt? Which produces more light? If a watt is a watt is a watt, who’s on second?

If the 25 Watt bulb were UNDER the aquarium would it heat more than the pad? Does the Zard care where the heat comes from? Can he absorb light energy better than pad energy?

A 100 watt X6 gets hot in the hand really fast, large copper pill notwithstanding…

It’s probably bedtime…

Yes, eventually. The only questions are where and when.

A fraction of the light will be absorbed (and turn into heat) once it hits a surface or a particle (assuming that they are not 100% reflective), whatever remains will just bounce around until they are all absorbed.

When you drive a motor, you use energy to turn the shaft (kinetic). That will eventually be converted into heat because of friction (e.g. air drag, bearing friction). The fact that you need (for this example) 1w to keep the motor spinning is to counteract against the friction that will slow down the shaft. In the perfect world where friction does not exist, you don’t need any more energy to keep the motor spinning once it reaches your desired speed.

Just to by a wise-ass,
In the motor vs light example.
Stall the motor so that no energy is going into rotational movement.
Now, how hot will it get?
Isn’t everything that’s not going into the magnetic field, now going into heat?
All the Best,
Jeff

The TP orientation has reached such controversy nation wide.
At our house, it sits on top of the tank.
Now we have to decide, stacked or side by side….

Tesla apparently uses that technique intentionally, stalling the electric motors to heat the batteries when pre-warming. The Tesla Model 3 'Superbottle' Easter Egg Is a Fascinating Packaging Solution

Unlike toilet paper orientation, the physics of this question is not subjective. Nevertheless, it’s worth reading about one of the greatest controversies of humanity: Toilet paper orientation - Wikipedia

One orientation makes sense while the other is really grasping at straws. Incredible that it can become a marital issue. Then again, what can’t. :smiley:

Heat flows from hot to cold; the heat generated would flow to the largest object which would have absorbed less heat; but the source would remain the same. No.

In my younger adulthood my house had tiled walls and a natural gas wall heater in the bathroom. The TP was mounted on an outside wall, the tiles would sweat and the paper would stick to the wall, hence over was the way to go. :wink: YMMV

Electric motors vs flashlights, not exactly an apples to apples comparison. Compromise and variability are the only real standards… possibly a best answer to the OP’s question is… it depends. (Obviously also a viable answer to the TP question as well!)