Question

Strange exam question

Asked by: deighton

What was the real answer that they wanted for this question?  Am I missing the obvious that the air is already warmer than the sea, or is there something more profound, since it doesn't explain how the invention was going to work.


http://www.boreme.com/media/yr2007/exam-answers-6-1.jpg

I wondered if it was to do with the laws of thermodynamics, but I thought you could get energy from differing temperature situations, a thermocouple for example.  So maybe he did just sleep with his wife.

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Asked On
2007-03-02 at 03:10:57ID22423637
Tags

answers

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exams

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strange

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Math & Science

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    Answers

     

    by: Arthur_WoodPosted on 2007-03-02 at 04:10:41ID: 18639612

    It would require energy from the Ship, to heat the air being expelled.  Was the purpose of this to cool the ship?  It would be much more efficient to simply circulate the cool ocean water, extract heat from the ship, and expel the heated water.

    AW

     

    by: grg99Posted on 2007-03-02 at 05:00:46ID: 18639837

    Well, I think you got it, that would require a heat engine that works backwards.

    The basic idea would (only theoretically) work if you ran it in reverse-- taking warm air in and using it to heat up a fluid that boils at air temperature.

    But in practice it would never be economical-- you'd need an immense turbine to generate any measurable power, and the turbine is unlikely to generate enough power to run the necessary pumps and fans.  Carnot's law limits the efficiency to under 4%  (10/293).  





     

    by: KelvinYPosted on 2007-03-02 at 06:05:16ID: 18640653

    This is a straight application of the second law of thermodynamics. You cannot take heat from a lower temperature body (the ocean) and put it into a higher temperature body (the atmosphere). The driving force for energy transfer is always in the direction of the lower temperature, regardless of how much energy is in each body. It's the quality of the energy, which is directly related to its temperature, that is important.

     

    by: MacroLandPosted on 2007-03-04 at 13:41:38ID: 18651270

    Totally agree with KelvinY

    Heat only flows in one direction that is from a high temperature body to a lower temperature body

    Power is extracted during this flow. If you want to reverse the direction of heat flow you should give an energy to achieve this - second law of thermodynamics and an example of refrigerators.

    It is reasonable to get fired :)

     

    by: KelvinYPosted on 2007-03-05 at 02:52:21ID: 18653503

    @Macroland

    :) Yes, but the boss needs his butt kicked too, if his hiring process is unable to screen out people that don't know fundamental scientific laws.

     

    by: deightonPosted on 2007-03-06 at 06:42:57ID: 18661804

    I once saw a design for a generator using smart metal to extract heat from water at different temperatures.

     

    by: MacroLandPosted on 2007-03-06 at 07:34:12ID: 18662293

    that is you still need temperature difference to get power out of it. The cycle is known as Rankine cycle which obeys first and second law of thermodynamics.

    However there is still temperature difference which is turned into mechanical and then electrical power.

    In your question the ocean is a very good heat reservoir in which m*C is ultra huge but since the temperature is lower than air, to reject heat to air you should provide extra power.

    Your case is very similar to heat pumps...

     

    by: andyalderPosted on 2007-03-12 at 09:36:02ID: 18703411

    Apart from sleeping with the bosses wife I can see no reason to sack him. 10 degrees is quite cold so if he's using a heat pump to transfer heat from the ocean to the air inside the cabins he's saving energy over heating the air directly. At least that's what they tell you when you buy a reversible air conditioner that you can use as a heat pump in the winter.

    20120131-EE-VQP-002

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