Cooldown energy? Revised edition.?

Question

I had another version of this question but I didn't actually state it correctly, so I'll try again. I know that everything hot when it cools down gives off energy, but is there any substance that can continuously stay very hot despite giving off energy in it's cooldown?

Answer 1

No. The rule that our universe appears to follow is the conservation of energy. If you take energy out of a system - if the system radiates energy - it has to have less energy remaining. And heat is a form of energy. By removing heat from an object, it loses energy. and you cannot lose energy forever. The atoms and molecules slow down and down, and eventually end up at absolute zero, when the atoms and molecules and even the electrons are in a very low energy state. The electrons are still racing around near to the nucleus, but otherwise all is rather quiet.

Once you have reached that state, it can no longer radiate any heat.

There is an exception, but not really. You are speaking of cooldown energy, which implies that no new energy is being added. In a nuclear reaction , the substance can stay quite hot - not forever, but for a long LONG time - but that is because new energy is being created by the conversion of mass.