Tim wrote:And you don't, and probably never will understand the similarities.
I understand the similarities just fine. The differences are what kills it.
Tom Booth wrote:Same idea when a gas expands isothermally to drive a piston to power an engine, in that case the heat intake is converted 100% to power output so heat is taken in but there is no rise in temperature because an equivalent amount of "work" in Joules goes out at the same instant.
Much of that is lost during the expansion, without work, as the air at high pressure is injected into the bin at a lower pressure. All it does is uselessly swirl, mix, and lift the water, in the bottom of the tower.
It actually can be observed and measured. Just watching the fluid rise in the birds neck is both observation and measurement. How fast it rises is an indication of power. How far it rises, maximum, is temperature. May need a longer tube to get maximum.Tom Booth wrote:Heat is taken away from the drinking Bird by evaporation, but there is very little temperature change. Likewise ambient heat is absorbed at the base of the bird, but there is no increase in temperature above ambient. Heat goes in but is not apparent, obvious or measurable.
Tom Booth wrote:Then when the the air is released into the canisters it absorbs back heat as it expands, so the heat of compression is recovered.
Not really. The heat is absorbed back in at a lower temperature. Lower temperature heat input means less work output.
Tom Booth wrote:These heat transfers are nearly perfectly isothermal so there are no obvious temperature changes but the fact that a copious amount of energy is rapidly going in and being converted to mechanical and electrical power output is an inescapable logical and science based common sense conclusion following known thermodynamic principles.
Isothermal but not at the same temperatures. You really need to understand the general process of heat transfer, and how temperature difference is needed, and how a larger difference increases transfer. You need to understand how work quantity relates to process temperatures.
For the same expansion at a lower temperature, less work will be generated. For the same compression at higher temperature, more input work will be required.
Look at the PV diagrams for an engine cycle and a heat pump cycle, for help on understanding this stuff.
.