• Question: how do we know energy will never run out?

    Asked by 685genp44 to Remsha, Oliver, Lisa, Fiana on 8 Nov 2018.
    • Photo: Oliver

      Oliver answered on 8 Nov 2018:

      Many thanks for the question! I think I am seeing two possible interpretations of your question here and will try to answer both just in case. Firstly, the first law of thermodynamics states that the total energy remains constant in an isolated system but changed from one form to another such as mechanical, kinetic, thermal, chemical, nuclear has been well established. It is not my area of expertise but it is fascinating. On the other hand, if the question is about earth’s resources of particular forms of energy production (oil, coal, gas), then the answer is indeed that they are fast running out, but also that their continued use is also causing major problems with the earth’s ecosystem. Moving to solar or wind or wave energy production have wonderful potential but need to be developed and used more widely. However, taking the last point to a much larger stage, we can ask if the universe itself will someday run out of (usable) energy – see here: https://www.universetoday.com/119602/will-the-universe-run-out-of-energy/
      Don’t worry – that will not happen for a long time!!

    • Photo: Remsha Afzal

      Remsha Afzal answered on 12 Nov 2018:

      Wow tough question for a biologist to answer! 😛 I would say its because very smart physicists who studied energy, like Einstein, came up with formulas to prove that energy can never be created or destroyed, it is always converted from one form to the other.

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