Halian

conlangs, conworlds, etc.

29/Florida. Protofren. Aroaego leftist. Interests include conlangs, worldbuilding, and tabletop games (especially TCGs and riichi mahjong). Reposts NSFW stuff sometimes. https://en.pronouns.page/@halian


cathoderaydude
@cathoderaydude

one of my favorite things that isn't really true (but you're a cop if you disagree) is that it's impossible to say if an electric heater is efficient or not. by the normal definition it's almost 0% efficient because nearly every watt of power gets converted into heat! but by any practical definition it's almost 100% efficient because nearly every watt of power gets converted into heat.

you're left in the difficult position of having to get mad at joules that successfully get through without becoming heat. it must drive pedantic engineers nuts


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in reply to @cathoderaydude's post:

Another fun fact I learned recently (i.e. saw on TikTok and didn’t verify) is that all space heaters are limited by law to 1500W, so there is literally no way you can have space heaters that heat up rooms more quickly than others because they are all 1500W and 100% “efficient”?

This is true, your typical 15 amp circuit in a North American home has 1800 watts available, but appliances that get hot for extended periods of time are limited to 80% of that wattage for fire code reasons. However, furthering the conundrum of the space heater, this means that the heater is only using 80% of the capacity of the circuit, and thus only 80% of the energy available to it, though it is using 100% of that 80% to heat the space. So it's... either 80% of 100% efficient, or 80% of 0% efficient...

It's a gordian knot alright.