this post was submitted on 30 Apr 2026
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Isn't there also visible, non heating light coming off them.?
I think that light also becomes heat again once it strikes a surface
Mostly, but not entirely.
Most thing you struggle to approach anywhere near 100% efficient, heating is a bit easier in that you can get a lot closer, but you’ll still hit limits before reaching 100%.
Saying inefficiencies are lost as heat is really a lazy simplification, inefficiencies are lost as anything It just turns out that 95% of anything is heat, from entropies perspective.
If all became heat upon striking a surface that would make lighting anything pretty impossible and most would be dark.
My oil heater makes gurgling noises so that acoustic energy is lost. It would also just heat up the room eventually, but I usually have a window open in winter so a tiny bit is lost that way.
What about a combination heater/lamp where the lamp part is just incandescence