this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2024
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Like fossil fuels come from organic matter that grew because of the sun. Is there any form of energy on that cannot be traced back to the sun in some way?

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[โ€“] dharmacurious@slrpnk.net 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Wouldn't that technically be from the sun, too, though? Since the earth orbits the sun due to its mass/gravitational pull?

[โ€“] TootSweet@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

What I posted would take energy from the angular momentum of the Earth rotating on its own axis, not the (angular?) momentum of the Earth revolving around the Sun.

Honestly, I'm not 100% sure the right way to talk about where the Earth's angular momentum about its own axis came from. I want to say gravity while the Earth coalesced from dust/gas, but I'm not sure that's quite true because I think the gravity would only kindof "concentrate" the angular momentum that was already present in the gas/dust that was already present in the cloud. (Like, when an ice skater pulls their arms toward their body and speed up, that doesn't add energy or momentum to the system that is the ice skater.)

So, maybe it's more accurate to say it's kinetic energy from the Big Bang and/or supernova(s?) that produced the gas/dust that eventually formed the Earth?

But I'm pretty sure this scheme would get energy from a source that wasn't ultimately from the Sun.