Why refrigerators need power when cooling is actually loss of heat(energy)? Why energy is needed to lose energy?

Question

And shouldn’t it be a power generator

In: Physics

Answer 1

We can’t effectively turn heat into electricity when it’s at that low of a temperature.

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In order to understand this, you’ll have to understand the second law of thermodynamics. Basically, the entropy (randomness) of the universe as a whole increases with every action.

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Cooling a cold thing down, and heating a hot thing up conserves energy, but decreases entropy. So, in order to do that, you need to use energy from outside of the system.

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So, a fridge has to take that extra energy in and spit it out somewhere.