Entropy - boffins required

[anonymous-user]

According to the law of increasing entropy, everything decays to a state of inert uniformity and this is why things simply "stop working" even if they are not used. Steel rusts, electrical connections break, microprocessors return to sand etc.

I have a very dry garage and I still need to maintain the vehicles contained therein. Could this explain why cars/bikes which aren't used fall to pieces?

[anonymous-user]

Pretty much. Yep.

[Gilhooligan]

Surely with regards to bolts rusting and cars falling to pieces is due to other, more fast acting, processes such as oxidation etc.

[Mave]

Entropy applies to many processess, with durations from nano seconds to billions of years

[littleredrooster]

...and here's me thinking we were going to have a discussion about superheated steam. I was just about to dig my engineering reference books out. :-/

[anonymous-user]

Superb. Perhaps I need to use it more.

My mate collects and sells 80s Atari etc arcade machines and says the same thing. Circuit boards simply break, leaving them irreparable. Damn shame.

Thanks everyone, now what 150mph car for £500?

Edited by anonymous-user on Monday 30th December 22:39

[RWD cossie wil]

Meh...Entropy is not what it used to be

[DCLXIV]

littleredrooster said:

...and here's me thinking we were going to have a discussion about superheated steam. I was just about to dig my engineering reference books out. :-/

I was merely going to reference the simplified form of the 2nd law of Thermodynamics - you can't break even.

[Garvin]

wormus said:

Superb. Perhaps I need to use it more.

My mate collects and sells 80s Atari etc arcade machines and says the same thing. Circuit boards simply break, leaving them irreparable. Damn shame.

Thanks everyone, now what 150mph car for £500?

Edited by wormus on Monday 30th December 22:39

Didn't Ataris regularly break when new as well

Regarding machinery packing up you will need to control the humidity in your garage - you may think it dry but the humidity will still change quite a lot. You need a Carcoon or similar to keep the RH at ~50% . . . . . or a set up like they have for the SS Great Britain where the pump air at a precise temperature and humidity over the hull constantly to prevent it corroding any further. Bit OTT for the garage though

[Vladimir]

I lived very near the SS Great Britain for years but never knew they did that!

[julian64]

wormus said:

Superb. Perhaps I need to use it more.

My mate collects and sells 80s Atari etc arcade machines and says the same thing. Circuit boards simply break, leaving them irreparable. Damn shame.

Thanks everyone, now what 150mph car for £500?

Edited by wormus on Monday 30th December 22:39

Not true. Circuit boards deteriorate if left in damp conditions, but nothing is irreparable, your friend just doesn't want to put the requisite amount of energy in.

[anonymous-user]

Gilhooligan said:

Surely with regards to bolts rusting and cars falling to pieces is due to other, more fast acting, processes such as oxidation etc.

Entropy in action.

[anonymous-user]

julian64 said:

Not true. Circuit boards deteriorate if left in damp conditions, but nothing is irreparable, your friend just doesn't want to put the requisite amount of energy in.

I'm sure we all know about old computer equipment which simply goes "pop" without provocation? How often have you turned something on only to find it no longer works but it was fine when you put it away? I was talking to him about the old pub gaming tables which apparently are notorious for not working after being moved from point a to b.

Now cars are more complicated than ever I think we will see more become discarded because they become too difficult to fix. How many of today's cars will still be running as classics in 40 years time?

[julian64]

wormus said:

julian64 said:

Not true. Circuit boards deteriorate if left in damp conditions, but nothing is irreparable, your friend just doesn't want to put the requisite amount of energy in.

I'm sure we all know about old computer equipment which simply goes "pop" without provocation? How often have you turned something on only to find it no longer works but it was fine when you put it away? I was talking to him about the old pub gaming tables which apparently are notorious for not working after being moved from point a to b.

Now cars are more complicated than ever I think we will see more become discarded because they become too difficult to fix. How many of today's cars will still be running as classics in 40 years time?

I have a collection of PETs, Amigas, Atari ST and a smattering of very old HP calculators, I have at least one working PDP11's and A computer which is probably the first home computer ever made so I can sympathise. They all go wrong from time to time but at no more frequency than when they were brand new I think. A thirty year old resistor seems n omore prone to failure than a three day old one. Something might be beyond ecomonic repair for your freind but thats different from saying electronic components have a sell by date after which they 'break'