The Ethanol Papers - Paperturn manuscript - Flipbook - Page 584
Bryce goes through a diatribe on two of the three or four laws of thermodynamics (it depends on who’s counting, I guess) in order to tell us that Big Oil has not
launched a scandalous plot against alternative energy. It’s a very nice summation of what can be found in greater detail almost anywhere on the Internet. He
explains it so that a 4-year old child can understand it. I asked my wife to go out
and find a 4-year old child because I couldn’t make heads or tails of what he
was talking about! Yes, that was a Groucho Marx line.
I understood what he’s talking about, really, the mental picture was very clear:
Hot stuff turns cold but cold doesn’t turn hot. As everyone knows this is the
famous second law of thermodynamics. But then I got to thinking, cold may not
turn hot, but it does turn warm or at least less cold. And so, if something becomes less cold isn’t that like getting hotter – but then how hot is hot, and is it
a dry hot like in California or a moist hot like in Florida?
I’m only hoping that the people in one of a quantum physics’ alternate dimensions aren’t suffering from the excessive energy that gets displaced from our
commercial airline jets caused by the first law of thermodynamics.
What’s really funny about this whole thermodynamic diatribe of Bryce’s is that
he writes it as if the first car was built in response to some criteria contained in
an 1820’s RFP (Request For Proposal).
Gentlemen:
We are looking to you to create a multi-wheeled conveyance in which the
energy could be dissipated but not destroyed. Please note that it’s also
very important that the constituent atoms increase as the temperature
increases.
What’s more, please make room on the “dashboard” (we just invented
that word, hope you like it) for the radio tuner, once we invent the radio.
Sincerely yours,
The People in One of the Alternate Dimensions
But really, all seriousness aside, I understand that Bryce is just trying to explain
the principles behind how something works. And that even if the principle wasn’t
in full view of the original inventors of the automobile or the airplane or nuclear
turbine, that this is like an English teacher telling us what Shakespeare really
meant when he wrote “Much Ado About Nothing” hundreds of years before the
