What is a geothermal heat pump? A geothermal heat pump is a way of heating and cooling buildings by exchanging their heat with the ground. Natural objects obviously gain and lose heat depending on the amount of sunlight, what they are made of, the weather, where they are, and a whole host of other conditions. […]
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Why does metal feel colder than wood? Metal feels colder than wood because metal has a far higher thermal conductivity than wood does. There are two things we need to look at here: how metal conducts heat, and how our hands sense temperature. Heat is not actually a thing. Heat is a process. It is
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How does a thermal imaging camera work? A thermal imaging camera works by detecting infrared radiation and then processing it into an image that can be displayed on a screen. Everything on Earth can absorb heat or radiate heat. Mammals, such as us, create our own heat by burning the food we eat to make
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Why can’t I walk through a wall? We can’t pass through a wall because of the Pauli Exclusion Principle and because of electromagnetic repulsion. If you think about it on the microscopic level, there is a huge amount of space between the atoms in anything. They are like planets in the solar system. So, if
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What is Maxwell’s Demon thought experiment? Maxwell’s Demon’s thought experiment is a theoretical way that the Second Law of Thermodynamics could be challenged. The Second Law of Thermodynamics is the law that explains entropy. It says that any system always heads from order towards disorder and the only way to get it back to order
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Why does time slow down as you go faster? Time slows down as we go faster because our perception of time gets distorted. This all comes down to the fact that the speed of light in a vacuum is constant. Light, in a vacuum always travels at C, which is 299,792,458 m/s. The difficulty comes
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How do ball bearings reduce friction? They reduce friction by turning sliding motion into rolling motion. If you have ever used a fidget spinner, you know that once you give it a spin and let go, it will keep spinning for far longer than you would expect. This is all down to the ball bearings
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What is the conservation of energy? Conservation of energy is the principle behind the First Law of Thermodynamics. The Law of Conservation of Energy says that you can change the state of energy, but energy can never be created and energy can never be destroyed. Before we look at this question, I think we need
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How does sunscreen work? Sunscreen works by either reflecting the ultraviolet rays back up, or by absorbing the ultraviolet rays. When we go out into direct sunlight, we are coming into a lot of energy that the sun is sending our way. The sun releases energy as electromagnetic waves in a whole range of wavelengths.
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Why does ice float? Ice floats because it is less dense than liquid water. Ice is one of the very few liquids that expand when they are frozen. The majority of materials contract. Ice floats on water because of its density. A less dense material will always float on a more dense material. The density
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