Heat transfer -- Several questions

[russellsh2]

I am constantly research a wide range of areas and often run into questions I cant seem to find the answer to, no matter how much I ask uncle google. I am looking for open dialog and discussion, so I dont mind getting off topic a bit. I like the inspiration. Tho periodically I may need a specific fact, if at all possible. And like I said the topics will be very wide ranging.

To start off with, what reacts the most to Infrared radiation?

Does anybody have any suggestions as to ways to collect heat?

Just as a standing wave receives outside energy and builds bigger and bigger, is there anything that does the same with heat? Like taking in 20 sources of 70deg F and building 150 deg F. Im looking to condense many sources of low level heat into 1 high level heat.

I have many more questions, but thats a good start.

 

[Dale]

You will get better responses by using a descriptive thread title and by keeping each thread focused on one topic. There is no limit to the number of threads you can open so there is no need to cram different topics into the same thread.

To start off with, what reacts the most to Infrared radiation?

IR radiation is the right energy level to excite molecular vibrations that change the electric dipole moment of the molecule.

https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshe...py/4.1:_Introduction_to_Infrared_Spectroscopy

Does anybody have any suggestions as to ways to collect heat?

You cannot really collect heat since heat is a process: the transfer of energy due to a temperature difference. You could however store thermal energy in a large mass of material with a high specific heat capacity.

is there anything that does the same with heat? Like taking in 20 sources of 70deg F and building 150 deg F. Im looking to condense many sources of low level heat into 1 high level heat.

A heat pump will do that. It requires work.

 

[fresh_42]

You could however store thermal energy in a large mass of material with a high specific heat capacity.

AFAIK, oil (transport) and salt (over night storage) are actually used in solar power plants.

 

[russellsh2]

Dale, I am not a physics major. I dont understand half of your sentence let alone the article you referenced. Could you possibly explain in layman terms?

 

[russellsh2]

I think you guys are missing the point of the question. Would not the limit of the temperature be the level of the highest temperature added? In other words, if I add multiple sources at 70 deg, wouldnt the highest it could get be 70deg? Thats why I mentioned the standing wave idea. Im looking for some way to add lower level heat to generate higher level heat. For instance I can use a heat pump. But Im looking for other ways. Im not interested in heat pumps.

 

[vela]

I changed the thread level to B since the nature of your questions suggest some really basic misunderstandings.

 

[Dale]

Dale, in laymans terms, what is a Dipole moment and what affect does IR have on it? Does causing vibrations in the Dipole Moment cause an increase of heat?

A dipole moment means that one end of the molecule is positively charged and the other end is negatively charged. The dipole moment is the product of the charge difference times the distance. So as the distances between atoms change the dipole moment changes.

Energy can be stored in these vibrations. That is internal energy, not heat. Heat is a transfer of energy, not the energy itself. So increasing these vibrations increases internal energy, it does not increase heat.

Other than a heat pumps, what other ways can heat be condensed?

Anything that does that is a heat pump by definition. So, there is no other way. There are however different heat pump technologies. For instance there are solid state heat pumps:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoelectric_cooling