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
All energy output will eventually become heat. Why bother measuring efficiency at all if we’re counting those aftereffects?
Only heaters are a machine where the “good” output is one you want to be heat.
For other devices the heat is the bad part.
But since your goal with a heater… is to generate heat… and all energy eventually will become heat, it is close to 100% efficient.
If you can hear the heater’s sound it makes in a room/area you don’t want to be heating though, now it’s <100% efficient as a tiny bit of energy became heat that heated the non ideal location.
Fun fact: this phenomenon is what causes the infamous “hot ear” effect that many people suffer from every day.