That's right. The 2nd law is not valid for very simple systems or open systems, which is the case above.
2012/2/28 Nigel Dyer <l...@thedyers.org.uk> > The paper says that it is working at a temperature of 135 C, which is > relatively elevated. > > I agree that this does violate the second law, in that it is doing work > but there is not a heat source and sink. However, as my son, who knows > more about physics than I do says, the second law is not so much a law, > merely a guideline. There are a number of situations where it does not > hold, so we can add this to the list. > > One Achilles heal of the second law would appear to be pumped Bose > condensates such as lasers, so it is no great surprise to find an example > here. > > However, we only get over unity at less than <10E-10 watts, so its > practical application at this point is somewhat limited. But maybe with > a little more research.... > > Nigel > > > On 28/02/2012 17:38, Harry Veeder wrote: > >> According to the second law you can only get a system to do "work" if >> parts of the system are at different temperatures. In this situation >> the system is a diode and it does work by converting heat into light. >> It is hard to tell from the description, but I am guessing the entire >> diode is at an elevated temperature. >> >> harry >> >> On Tue, Feb 28, 2012 at 12:20 PM, Daniel Rocha<danieldi...@gmail.com> >> wrote: >> >>> Why do you think it would violate the 2nd law? I don't understand. >>> >>> 2012/2/28 Harry Veeder<hveeder...@gmail.com> >>> >>>> however, wouldn't this require a violation of the second law of >>>>> thermodynamics? >>>>> >>>>> Harry >>>>> >>>>> >>> >>> -- >>> Daniel Rocha - RJ >>> danieldi...@gmail.com >>> >>> >> > -- Daniel Rocha - RJ danieldi...@gmail.com
