Breno Henrique Tavares Gomes

Homework # 1

1. Discuss what the peak oil is and whether it can be applied to the current reserves of oil and natural gas. How do the new discovery of unconventional resources affect the peak oil? Please cite your references and compare data to those resented in the text.

Peak oil is the peak of maximum oil production during a period of time. After this point, the rate of oil production tends to decrease until new reserves are found. The oil price could not worth the effort to obtain it and then the unconventional resources comes to compete with convenient oil source which force the seeking of the discover of new reserves of oil.

2. How do the first and second laws of thermodynamics apply to food and dieting? What are the similarities and dissimilarities between a heat engine, a human body, and a plant?

The second law says that all natural process tend to disorder. Therefore, if you eat well you might have energy to do a work or heat yourself, if you don’t spend it, it will transform into fat. The heat engine, human body and plant, all work as a heat machine. The heat engine uses fossil fuels or other combustible as energy source. The human body uses food, and the plant, the sunlight.

3. Discuss some of the philosophical, political and economic implications of the second law and the entropy.

According with the second law, all natural process tend to go from order to disorder. The entropy means how hard this process is. This statement has some effects in our lives. For example, when we build our houses we want a material that can stand when under sun, wind, and any other natural challenge. It could be understood that we might seek for a material with high entropy to build safe houses.