Why does electrical equipment get hot?
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In my PC I have one whopper of a CPU heat sink and more fans than you can shake a stick at, this is because I know these components get hot. But what causes this heat? Is it some type of friction down on the atomic layer, or what?
Me: Can you see the "up" arrow? User:Errr...ummm....no. Me: Can you see an arrow that points upwards? User: Oh yes, I see it now! -Excerpt from a support call taken by me, 08/31/2007
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In my PC I have one whopper of a CPU heat sink and more fans than you can shake a stick at, this is because I know these components get hot. But what causes this heat? Is it some type of friction down on the atomic layer, or what?
Me: Can you see the "up" arrow? User:Errr...ummm....no. Me: Can you see an arrow that points upwards? User: Oh yes, I see it now! -Excerpt from a support call taken by me, 08/31/2007
I might use that line next time I out. Sidle up to a young women at the bar and say
"Hey, is that some type of friction down on the atomic layer or what?"Certainly would beat -"Hey - you're hot!""More functions should disregard input values and just return 12. It would make life easier." - comment posted on WTF
"This time yesterday, I still had 24 hours to meet the deadline I've just missed today."
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I might use that line next time I out. Sidle up to a young women at the bar and say
"Hey, is that some type of friction down on the atomic layer or what?"Certainly would beat -"Hey - you're hot!""More functions should disregard input values and just return 12. It would make life easier." - comment posted on WTF
"This time yesterday, I still had 24 hours to meet the deadline I've just missed today."
You're a complete Charlie, but you still get a 5 :)
Me: Can you see the "up" arrow? User:Errr...ummm....no. Me: Can you see an arrow that points upwards? User: Oh yes, I see it now! -Excerpt from a support call taken by me, 08/31/2007
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In my PC I have one whopper of a CPU heat sink and more fans than you can shake a stick at, this is because I know these components get hot. But what causes this heat? Is it some type of friction down on the atomic layer, or what?
Me: Can you see the "up" arrow? User:Errr...ummm....no. Me: Can you see an arrow that points upwards? User: Oh yes, I see it now! -Excerpt from a support call taken by me, 08/31/2007
Imperfection. Electrons interacting with the lattice, making the lattice vibrate, which we see as "heat". Higher clock frequencies mean capacitors (which are fundamental to most integrated circuits you find in a CPU) allow more current to pass, and there is always some resitance in the paths.
We are a big screwed up dysfunctional psychotic happy family - some more screwed up, others more happy, but everybody's psychotic joint venture definition of CP
My first real C# project | Linkify!|FoldWithUs! | sighist -
You're a complete Charlie, but you still get a 5 :)
Me: Can you see the "up" arrow? User:Errr...ummm....no. Me: Can you see an arrow that points upwards? User: Oh yes, I see it now! -Excerpt from a support call taken by me, 08/31/2007
martin_hughes wrote:
You're a complete Charlie, but you still get a 5
Unfortunately, not from the girl. Unless she's geek, which is pretty atomfrictional to begin with. So it's actually a good filter, which might be very fortunate.
We are a big screwed up dysfunctional psychotic happy family - some more screwed up, others more happy, but everybody's psychotic joint venture definition of CP
My first real C# project | Linkify!|FoldWithUs! | sighist -
In my PC I have one whopper of a CPU heat sink and more fans than you can shake a stick at, this is because I know these components get hot. But what causes this heat? Is it some type of friction down on the atomic layer, or what?
Me: Can you see the "up" arrow? User:Errr...ummm....no. Me: Can you see an arrow that points upwards? User: Oh yes, I see it now! -Excerpt from a support call taken by me, 08/31/2007
First Law of Thermodynamics[^] )in layman's terms): Heat is work and work is heat. After that, I get lost... Fred
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In my PC I have one whopper of a CPU heat sink and more fans than you can shake a stick at, this is because I know these components get hot. But what causes this heat? Is it some type of friction down on the atomic layer, or what?
Me: Can you see the "up" arrow? User:Errr...ummm....no. Me: Can you see an arrow that points upwards? User: Oh yes, I see it now! -Excerpt from a support call taken by me, 08/31/2007
In about 100 years, physicists will discover that there's something smaller than quarks even. Hamsters spinning in little cages. So, give those hamsters a rest and turn your computer off. :) Marc
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In about 100 years, physicists will discover that there's something smaller than quarks even. Hamsters spinning in little cages. So, give those hamsters a rest and turn your computer off. :) Marc
That kind of talk might be fine in beard and hat country, but round my way it's considerd witchcraft!
Me: Can you see the "up" arrow? User:Errr...ummm....no. Me: Can you see an arrow that points upwards? User: Oh yes, I see it now! -Excerpt from a support call taken by me, 08/31/2007
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In my PC I have one whopper of a CPU heat sink and more fans than you can shake a stick at, this is because I know these components get hot. But what causes this heat? Is it some type of friction down on the atomic layer, or what?
Me: Can you see the "up" arrow? User:Errr...ummm....no. Me: Can you see an arrow that points upwards? User: Oh yes, I see it now! -Excerpt from a support call taken by me, 08/31/2007
If it didn't need power you wouldn't have to plug it in. Most of the power is turned into heat, a bit into other radiation - light, radio, x-rays if a CRT, and some sound. A tiny tiny little bit of energy might be stored in a flash memory device. I'm not sure if anyone knows the limits of how much energy is actually needed to process / store information (interesting philosophical question - it is Sunday), but I suspect that it is many orders of magnitude less than we use.
Peter "Until the invention of the computer, the machine gun was the device that enabled humans to make the most mistakes in the smallest amount of time."
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In my PC I have one whopper of a CPU heat sink and more fans than you can shake a stick at, this is because I know these components get hot. But what causes this heat? Is it some type of friction down on the atomic layer, or what?
Me: Can you see the "up" arrow? User:Errr...ummm....no. Me: Can you see an arrow that points upwards? User: Oh yes, I see it now! -Excerpt from a support call taken by me, 08/31/2007
martin_hughes wrote:
Is it some type of friction down on the atomic layer, or what?
Exactly. Electrons moving from point A to point B. This is why incandescent bulbs are often called heaters whose byproduct is light. People often ask why it's not a good idea to check the air pressure in your car tires if they are hot. This is because the air pressure in a tire will increase due to the air atoms inside of it getting hot (from friction) and expanding.
"A good athlete is the result of a good and worthy opponent." - David Crow
"To have a respect for ourselves guides our morals; to have deference for others governs our manners." - Laurence Sterne
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In my PC I have one whopper of a CPU heat sink and more fans than you can shake a stick at, this is because I know these components get hot. But what causes this heat? Is it some type of friction down on the atomic layer, or what?
Me: Can you see the "up" arrow? User:Errr...ummm....no. Me: Can you see an arrow that points upwards? User: Oh yes, I see it now! -Excerpt from a support call taken by me, 08/31/2007
In completely technical jargon, there is coupling between the phonon field and the free electron field. Essentially electrons bumping into the atoms causes vibrations in the atomic lattice which is heat. However, when some conductors are cold enough they become superconductors. When that happens pairs of electrons couple through interactions with the phonon field and those pairs are bosons. This allows the pairs to travel without resistance and without generating heat.
This blanket smells like ham
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In my PC I have one whopper of a CPU heat sink and more fans than you can shake a stick at, this is because I know these components get hot. But what causes this heat? Is it some type of friction down on the atomic layer, or what?
Me: Can you see the "up" arrow? User:Errr...ummm....no. Me: Can you see an arrow that points upwards? User: Oh yes, I see it now! -Excerpt from a support call taken by me, 08/31/2007
the power supply, through the use of a catalyst, turns atmoshperic CO2 and water vapor into methane and ozone (that's what the fan is for). the ozone is passed over an enzyme, which converts it to oxygen, which is released (through the fan). the methane molecules are chained together forming kerosene through non-aqueous osmosis. the kerosene is then burned to power your computer, and that's where the heat comes from.
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In my PC I have one whopper of a CPU heat sink and more fans than you can shake a stick at, this is because I know these components get hot. But what causes this heat? Is it some type of friction down on the atomic layer, or what?
Me: Can you see the "up" arrow? User:Errr...ummm....no. Me: Can you see an arrow that points upwards? User: Oh yes, I see it now! -Excerpt from a support call taken by me, 08/31/2007
martin_hughes wrote:
more fans than you can shake a stick at
You from texas by any chance?
Wout
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martin_hughes wrote:
more fans than you can shake a stick at
You from texas by any chance?
Wout
All those cute little electrons passing by make the silicon get all hot.
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All those cute little electrons passing by make the silicon get all hot.
Let’s get “serious” folks. We are all generally yakking about CPU stuff with fans. How about internal IDE drives – you could fry an egg on them after few hours of banging on the keyboard. I got three of them packed together in an old HP minitower. They have no fans and there is very little room to dissipate all that heat. What is temperature spec for them? Or are they disposable after few years? PS Who said electrons are cute? After how many beers?
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martin_hughes wrote:
more fans than you can shake a stick at
You from texas by any chance?
Wout
Nope - if I were from Texas, my PC would have its own Air Conditioning unit :)
Me: Can you see the "up" arrow? User:Errr...ummm....no. Me: Can you see an arrow that points upwards? User: Oh yes, I see it now! -Excerpt from a support call taken by me, 08/31/2007
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In my PC I have one whopper of a CPU heat sink and more fans than you can shake a stick at, this is because I know these components get hot. But what causes this heat? Is it some type of friction down on the atomic layer, or what?
Me: Can you see the "up" arrow? User:Errr...ummm....no. Me: Can you see an arrow that points upwards? User: Oh yes, I see it now! -Excerpt from a support call taken by me, 08/31/2007
It's because of all the smoke moving around inside the cpu getting the work done. It's a little-known fact that all electronic equipment works using smoke. It is for this reason that when you let the smoke out, it stops working. ;)
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In completely technical jargon, there is coupling between the phonon field and the free electron field. Essentially electrons bumping into the atoms causes vibrations in the atomic lattice which is heat. However, when some conductors are cold enough they become superconductors. When that happens pairs of electrons couple through interactions with the phonon field and those pairs are bosons. This allows the pairs to travel without resistance and without generating heat.
This blanket smells like ham
I would assume most of this coupling is due to electrons bumping into the "lattice", presumably Compton scattering in reverse :) Any idea how much is caused by the accelerating electrons emitting photons either in the IR band, or which are captured afterwards enciting higher phonon modes?
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In my PC I have one whopper of a CPU heat sink and more fans than you can shake a stick at, this is because I know these components get hot. But what causes this heat? Is it some type of friction down on the atomic layer, or what?
Me: Can you see the "up" arrow? User:Errr...ummm....no. Me: Can you see an arrow that points upwards? User: Oh yes, I see it now! -Excerpt from a support call taken by me, 08/31/2007
It gets hot for the same reason an electric space heater gets hot. Electrical voltage applied across a resistance creates heat energy. Conservation of energy and matter stuff. A processor is a huge collection of very tiny resistors. If you have a 1000 ohm heating element (aka resistor), and you apply 110 VDC (keeping it simple with DC instead of AC, leaving power factors and inductive resistance for another day), you can figure out how much power is used. Voltage = E Current = I Resistance = R Power = P P = I*E E = I*R thus I = E/R (see [^]) so, P = E*E/R = 110*110/1000 = 12.1 Volt-amps or in common terms, 12.1 watts Now, lets assume there are 800 million transistors (which are also considered resistors) in a given processor. From what I've read, typical desktop processors generate 80-100 watts, and laptop processors typically 30-40 watts. It's just simple laws of electricity, nothing magical.
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In my PC I have one whopper of a CPU heat sink and more fans than you can shake a stick at, this is because I know these components get hot. But what causes this heat? Is it some type of friction down on the atomic layer, or what?
Me: Can you see the "up" arrow? User:Errr...ummm....no. Me: Can you see an arrow that points upwards? User: Oh yes, I see it now! -Excerpt from a support call taken by me, 08/31/2007
Desn't it relate to the fact that transistors MOS in circuits clash for a small amount of time causing heat ? (I may be wrong on that one my electronics courses are a long way back)