https://signal-and-syntax.com/tags/thermodynamics/Recent content in Thermodynamics on Signal & SyntaxHugoen-usSun, 30 Nov 2025 06:00:00 -0700https://signal-and-syntax.com/posts/edmund-fitzgerald/Sun, 30 Nov 2025 06:00:00 -0700https://signal-and-syntax.com/posts/edmund-fitzgerald/Originally appearing on his 1976 album, Summertime Dream, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” is a powerful ballad written and performed by folk singer Gordon Lightfoot . In 1976, the song hit No. 1 in Canada on the RPM chart, and No. 2 in the United States on the Billboard Hot 100. The lyrics are a masterpiece, but there was one specific line that always stood out to me: “The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead.https://signal-and-syntax.com/posts/thermo-water-energy-balance/Sun, 12 Oct 2025 09:00:00 -0700https://signal-and-syntax.com/posts/thermo-water-energy-balance/Every summer, it feels like a small miracle when the pool finally warms up enough to swim. In Nevada, where the air temperature can sit above 100°F (38°C) for weeks, you’d expect the water to keep pace. Yet, somehow, it takes forever to warm, and only a few cool nights can undo all that progress. The same phenomenon shows up in a stick of butter. Butter melts quickly, while margarine stays stubbornly firm even under the same heat.