Heat

Miscellaneous news and views...

Moderator: scott

Post Reply
User avatar
Grimer
Addict
Addict
Posts: 5280
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 9:46 am
Location: Harrow, England
Contact:

Heat

Post by Grimer »

I've just realised. There's no antonym for heat - the noun, not the verb.
Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terribilis ut castrorum acies ordinata?
User avatar
jim_mich
Addict
Addict
Posts: 7467
Joined: Sun Dec 07, 2003 12:02 am
Location: Michigan
Contact:

Post by jim_mich »

The antonyms for "heat" are: cold, coldness, cool, chill, frigidity, freeze.

Reference: http://dict.hinkhoj.com/antonym/antonym ... -HEAT.html

Image
User avatar
Grimer
Addict
Addict
Posts: 5280
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 9:46 am
Location: Harrow, England
Contact:

Post by Grimer »

LOL. I wouldn't have thought a Hindi site was the best place to look. :-)

However, I am thinking of heat as a noun in the scientific sense. We talk of the mechanical equivalent of heat - but what about the mechanical equivalent of cold? We have a scientific antonym for entropy (chaos), i.e. ectropy (order) but we do not have a scientific antonym for heat.

Since the word heat is used as a verb and a noun perhaps we should use the word cool as a verb and a noun. When its too hot in the summer we could say, "Turn up the cool, man!" meaning turn up the air conditioner.

I could then refer to my Stirling Engine as both a Heat Engine and a Cool Engine without sounding like a hippy.
User avatar
jim_mich
Addict
Addict
Posts: 7467
Joined: Sun Dec 07, 2003 12:02 am
Location: Michigan
Contact:

Post by jim_mich »

Hey, I just plugged antonyms and heat into Google search, and the first site was not helpful, and you see the link to the second site.

In a technical sense, heat is always a positive number. You can't lower heat below absolute zero. Thus there is no negative heat value. There is no coldness scale. (Except maybe in an ex-wife's heart?)

Image
terry5732
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Posts: 246
Joined: Mon Nov 17, 2003 4:51 pm
Location: They found me

Post by terry5732 »

You cannot have an upside down hole

or a vacuum

or a black light

or a winning lottery ticket
User avatar
Ed
Addict
Addict
Posts: 2049
Joined: Mon Jul 26, 2004 7:13 pm
Contact:

re: Heat

Post by Ed »

Come on Jim, I'm sure Joanne is hot. Maybe you just need to wear an extra scarf? ;-)}
Post Reply