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Nothing breaks the laws of thermodynamics, ever. I assume you're referring to how some popular science articles report things. That's just wordplay. Nothing is
by pwr-electronics 4y ago
Nothing breaks the laws of thermodynamics, ever.
I assume you're referring to how some popular science articles report things. That's just wordplay. Nothing is being bent, broken, or bypassed.
Usually it just means they did something an ordinary homogeneous material couldn't do, for example. Which is genuinely interesting, even if it's not actually breaking physics.
- marginalia_nu 4y agoWith a generous interpretation, they can be said to break classical thermodynamics, since they quantum physics onto the table, most notably magnets can have negative temperature according to the statistical definition. Nothing that breaks physics at large, but would probably cause Ludwig Boltzmann a mild headache if he heard about it. It's still not going to allow you to make perpetual motion machines, though.
- pwr-electronics 4y agoWhy would you use a classical model to describe a quantum system? That's the kind of wordplay that those articles do, and almost identical to my example about materials. It's entertaining, but meaningless.
- marginalia_nu 4y agoWell in this case you absolutely can, the results just seem counter to our intuition about temperature. Negative temperature is a meaningful description of these types of systems.
- pwr-electronics 4y agoI'm trying to explain how articles often conflate "intuition" with "breaking physics", and you're making your argument by conflating them. We're having different conversations.
- marginalia_nu 4y agoWhere have I said anything about any of this breaking physics, other than repeatedly clarifying that it doesn't...?
- pwr-electronics 4y ago> With a generous interpretation, they can be said to break classical thermodynamics https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31008263 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31008263
- marginalia_nu 4y agoOperative word being classical. Quantum physics breaks classical physics. Stopped being controversial about a hundred years ago. Thw very same comment specifically states that physics itself is not broken.
- pwr-electronics 4y agoOk, so you're confirming that you're doing exactly what I said popular science articles often do.
- marginalia_nu 4y agoNo I am not. Breaking classical physics is not breaking physics.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- pwr-electronics 4y agoI'm running out of ways to explain myself, so I'll just reword and summarize this thread from my perspective: OC: Is it broken? Me: No, they make generous interpretations to claim that it's broken. You: With a generous interpretation, they can be said to break ... Like I said, we're not having the same conversation.