Friday, April 30, 2010
A Strange Week and Equally Strange Foodstuffs
I have to say, that the last week was the weirdest one I have experienced this year, bar none. First of all, recurring dreams of a hit-man who would rip the door to my house off its hinges plagued me every night. Another thing is that I got into this Babybel cheese shown in the picture.
These items of food are first wrapped in a layer of wax and then a plastic sheet. The first time I popped open the plastic wrap, I accidentally bit and chewed the wax, giving me some stomach problems. After a while, I began to notice that mashing the wax between my fingers would make it warmer. I believe that this is because the friction of the wax grates upon itself and produces heat energy. This also brings us to the question: why does a rubber band heat up when stretched? Consider Gibb's free energy. ΔG=ΔH-TΔS, where G is the free energy, H is the enthalpy, and S is the entropy. Since stretching is nonspontaneous, as it requires an external heat, TΔS must be negative. Since T is always positive (it can never reach absolute zero ), the ΔS must be negative, inferring that the rubber in its natural state is more entangled than when it is under tension. So it heats up! Wow! Just another way to warm yourself up when you accidentally fall into the Sea of Japan.
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