Theos-Talk Archives (June 1998 Message tt00419)

      In #225 the articles on science Martin Quoted from the
LA Times were interesting,  however the following
comment doesn't make any sense to me :

         "  A vacuum holds onto energy the way ice holds
onto heat. When
      ice melts, it releases that heat, which turns into the
energy of
      rapidly moving water molecules. In the same way,
physicists
      believe a vacuum can melt, releasing energy."

   Ice ABSORBS heat to turn into water.  When
water RELEASES heat, it turns into ice, not as the article
states.
        In the Mahatma Letters I think there is a paragraph
illustrating the fundamental error of Science's idea of
"Conservation of Energy," or that one Form of energy is
"converted"  into another ( I hope I have this right.]   For
instance:   if you burn a ton of coal in a boiler with a
generator to make electricity - the heat energy is not really
"converted" at all into electricity.  If you burn a ton of coal
in an open field 100X BTUs of heat will be released into
the atmosphere.   If you burn the same 1 ton of coal in a
boiler hooked to a generator and thus generate 10
KW of electricity - there will still be 100X BTUs of
heat eventurally released into the atmosphere.  So
the heat energy was not "converted" into the electrical
energy at all.
                   -  Jake  (as I type at this instrument of
Science)