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Lotka's Principle
The maximum power principle or Lotka's principle has been proposed as the fourth principle of energetics in open system thermodynamics, where an example of an open system is a biological cell. According to Howard T. Odum, "The maximum power principle can be stated: During self-organization, system designs develop and prevail that maximize power intake, energy transformation, and those uses that reinforce production and efficiency."H.T. Odum 1995, p. 311 History Chen (2006) has located the origin of the statement of maximum power as a formal principle in a tentative proposal by Alfred J. Lotka (1922a, b). Lotka's statement sought to explain the Darwinian notion of evolution with reference to a physical principle. Lotka's work was subsequently developed by the systems ecologist Howard T. Odum in collaboration with the chemical engineer Richard C. Pinkerton, and later advanced by the engineer Myron Tribus. While Lotka's work may have been a first attempt to formalise evolutio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Second Law Efficiency
Exergy efficiency (also known as the second-law efficiency or rational efficiency) computes the effectiveness of a system relative to its performance in reversible conditions. It is defined as the ratio of the thermal efficiency of an actual system compared to an idealized or reversible version of the system for heat engines. It can also be described as the ratio of the useful work output of the system to the reversible work output for work-consuming systems. For refrigerators and heat pumps, it is the ratio of the actual COP and reversible COP. Motivation The reason the second-law efficiency is needed is because the first-law efficiencies fail to take into account an idealized version of the system for comparison. Using first-law efficiencies alone, can lead one to believe a system is more efficient than it is in reality. So, the second-law efficiencies are needed to gain a more realistic picture of a system's effectiveness. From the second law of thermodynamics it can be demons ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Planet
A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a young protostar orbited by a protoplanetary disk. Planets grow in this disk by the gradual accumulation of material driven by gravity, a process called accretion. The Solar System has at least eight planets: the terrestrial planets Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, and the giant planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. These planets each rotate around an axis tilted with respect to its orbital pole. All of them possess an atmosphere, although that of Mercury is tenuous, and some share such features as ice caps, seasons, volcanism, hurricanes, tectonics, and even hydrology. Apart from Venus and Mars, the Solar System planets generate magnetic fields, and all except Venus and Mercury have natural satellites. The giant planets bear plan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Economic Systems
An economic system, or economic order, is a system of Production (economics), production, resource allocation and Distribution (economics), distribution of goods and services within a society or a given geographic area. It includes the combination of the various institutions, agencies, entities, decision-making processes, and patterns of Consumer, consumption that comprise the economic structure of a given community. An economic system is a type of social system. The mode of production is a related concept. All economic systems must confront and solve the four fundamental economic problems: * What kinds and quantities of goods shall be produced: This fundamental economic problem is anchored on the theory of pricing. The theory of pricing, in this context, has to do with the economic decision-making between the production of capital goods and consumer goods in the economy in the face of scarce resources. In this regard, the critical evaluation of the needs of the society based on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Microbiological
Microbiology () is the scientific study of microorganisms, those being unicellular (single cell), multicellular (cell colony), or acellular (lacking cells). Microbiology encompasses numerous sub-disciplines including virology, bacteriology, protistology, mycology, immunology, and parasitology. Eukaryotic microorganisms possess membrane-bound organelles and include fungi and protists, whereas prokaryotic organisms—all of which are microorganisms—are conventionally classified as lacking membrane-bound organelles and include Bacteria and Archaea. Microbiologists traditionally relied on culture, staining, and microscopy. However, less than 1% of the microorganisms present in common environments can be cultured in isolation using current means. Microbiologists often rely on molecular biology tools such as DNA sequence based identification, for example the 16S rRNA gene sequence used for bacteria identification. Viruses have been variably classified as organisms, as they have been ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atwood Machine
The Atwood machine (or Atwood's machine) was invented in 1784 by the English mathematician George Atwood as a laboratory experiment to verify the mechanical laws of motion with constant acceleration. Atwood's machine is a common classroom demonstration used to illustrate principles of classical mechanics. The ideal Atwood machine consists of two objects of mass and , connected by an inextensible massless string over an ideal massless pulley. Both masses experience uniform acceleration. When , the machine is in neutral equilibrium regardless of the position of the weights. Equation for constant acceleration An equation for the acceleration can be derived by analyzing forces. Assuming a massless, inextensible string and an ideal massless pulley, the only forces to consider are: tension force (), and the weight of the two masses ( and ). To find an acceleration, consider the forces affecting each individual mass. Using Newton's second law (with a sign convention of derive ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ludwig Boltzmann
Ludwig Eduard Boltzmann (; 20 February 1844 – 5 September 1906) was an Austrian physicist and philosopher. His greatest achievements were the development of statistical mechanics, and the statistical explanation of the second law of thermodynamics. In 1877 he provided the current definition of entropy, S = k_ \ln \Omega \!, where Ω is the number of microstates whose energy equals the system's energy, interpreted as a measure of statistical disorder of a system. Max Planck named the constant the Boltzmann constant. Statistical mechanics is one of the pillars of modern physics. It describes how macroscopic observations (such as temperature and pressure) are related to microscopic parameters that fluctuate around an average. It connects thermodynamic quantities (such as heat capacity) to microscopic behavior, whereas, in classical thermodynamics, the only available option would be to measure and tabulate such quantities for various materials. Biography Childhood and educatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Analogical Models
Analogical models are a method of representing a phenomenon of the world, often called the "target system" by another, more understandable or analysable system. They are also called dynamical analogies. Two open systems have ''analog'' representations (see illustration) if they are black box isomorphic systems. Explanation Analogizing is the process of representing information about a particular subject (the analogue or source system) by another particular subject (the target system). A simple type of analogy is one that is based on shared properties (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Analogical models, also called "analog" or "analogue" models, therefore seek the analog systems that share properties with the target system as a means of representing the world. It is often practicable to construct source systems that are smaller and/or faster than the target system so that one can deduce ''a priori'' knowledge of target system behaviour. Analog devices are therefore those ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Power (physics)
In physics, power is the amount of energy transferred or converted per unit time. In the International System of Units, the unit of power is the watt, equal to one joule per second. In older works, power is sometimes called ''activity''. Power is a scalar quantity. Power is related to other quantities; for example, the power involved in moving a ground vehicle is the product of the aerodynamic drag plus traction force on the wheels, and the velocity of the vehicle. The output power of a motor is the product of the torque that the motor generates and the angular velocity of its output shaft. Likewise, the power dissipated in an electrical element of a circuit is the product of the current flowing through the element and of the voltage across the element. Definition Power is the rate with respect to time at which work is done; it is the time derivative of work: P =\frac where is power, is work, and is time. If a constant force F is applied throughout a distance x, the wor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thermodynamic Free Energy
The thermodynamic free energy is a concept useful in the thermodynamics of chemical or thermal processes in engineering and science. The change in the free energy is the maximum amount of work that a thermodynamic system can perform in a process at constant temperature, and its sign indicates whether the process is thermodynamically favorable or forbidden. Since free energy usually contains potential energy, it is not absolute but depends on the choice of a zero point. Therefore, only relative free energy values, or changes in free energy, are physically meaningful. The free energy is a thermodynamic state function, like the internal energy, enthalpy, and entropy. The free energy is the portion of any first-law energy that is available to perform thermodynamic work at constant temperature, ''i.e.'', work mediated by thermal energy. Free energy is subject to irreversible loss in the course of such work. Since first-law energy is always conserved, it is evident that free energy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Work (thermodynamics)
In thermodynamics, work is one of the principal processes by which a thermodynamic system can interact with its surroundings and exchange energy. An exchange of energy is facilitated by a mechanism through which the system can spontaneously exert macroscopic forces on its surroundings, or vice versa. In the surroundings, this mechanical work can lift a weight, for example. The externally measured forces and external effects may be electromagnetic,Guggenheim, E.A. (1985). ''Thermodynamics. An Advanced Treatment for Chemists and Physicists'', seventh edition, North Holland, Amsterdam, .Jackson, J.D. (1975). ''Classical Electrodynamics'', second edition, John Wiley and Sons, New York, .Konopinski, E.J. (1981). ''Electromagnetic Fields and Relativistic Particles'', McGraw-Hill, New York, . gravitational,North, G.R., Erukhimova, T.L. (2009). ''Atmospheric Thermodynamics. Elementary Physics and Chemistry'', Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (UK), . or mechanical (such as pressure-v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electric Power
Electric power is the rate at which electrical energy is transferred by an electric circuit. The SI unit of power is the watt, one joule per second. Standard prefixes apply to watts as with other SI units: thousands, millions and billions of watts are called kilowatts, megawatts and gigawatts respectively. A common misconception is that electric power is bought and sold, but actually electrical energy is bought and sold. For example, electricity is sold to consumers in kilowatt-hours (kilowatts multiplied by hours), because energy is power multiplied by time. Electric power is usually produced by electric generators, but can also be supplied by sources such as electric batteries. It is usually supplied to businesses and homes (as domestic mains electricity) by the electric power industry through an electrical grid. Electric power can be delivered over long distances by transmission lines and used for applications such as motion, light or heat with high efficiency. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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