If a machine is never 100% efficient transforming energy into work because part of the energy is converted into heat, does it mean an electric heater is 100% efficient? @showerthoughts@lemmy.world
If a machine is never 100% efficient transforming energy into work because part of the energy is converted into heat, does it mean an electric heater is 100% efficient? @showerthoughts@lemmy.world
Consuming energy to do something the device isn’t intended to do is the definition of inefficiency. You’ve basically redefined efficiency so as to make it meaningless.
They didn’t redefine efficiency. They changed the purpose scoping.
It would be meaningless, were it not for the context of the question it is answering. All of the electrical energy consumed is being turned in to heat in all those cases making it indeed possible to make a 100% efficient heater using electricity as was asked. The fact that that is orthogonal to the purpose of the machines is only relevant in as much as that’s why they were chosen as illustrative examples, showing that even when you’re not trying to, you end up making 100% efficient space heaters from electrical devices.