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Efficiency is the often measurable ability to avoid making mistakes or wasting materials, energy, efforts, money, and time while performing a task. In a more general sense, it is the ability to do things well, successfully, and without waste.
The mathematical definition given by H.T. Odum is formally analogous to the definition provided on the maximum power theorem article. (For a brief explanation of Odum's approach to the relationship between ecology and electronics see Ecological Analog of Ohm's Law)
= Even though the definition includes the notion of usefulness, efficiency is considered a technical or physical term. Goal or mission oriented terms include effectiveness and efficacy . Generally, energy conversion efficiency is a dimensionless number between 0 and 1.0, or 0% to 100%.
The assimilation efficiency can be expressed by the amount of food the consumer has eaten, how much the consumer assimilates and what is expelled as feces or urine. [19] While a portion of the energy is used for respiration, another portion of the energy goes towards biomass in the consumer. [ 16 ]
Biological thermodynamics (Thermodynamics of biological systems) is a science that explains the nature and general laws of thermodynamic processes occurring in living organisms as nonequilibrium thermodynamic systems that convert the energy of the Sun and food into other types of energy.
Ecological efficiency is a combination of several related efficiencies that describe resource utilization and the extent to which resources are converted into biomass. [ 1 ] Exploitation efficiency is the amount of food ingested divided by the amount of prey production ( I n / P n − 1 {\displaystyle I_{n}/P_{n-1}} )
The results of thermodynamics are essential for other fields of physics and for chemistry, chemical engineering, corrosion engineering, aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, cell biology, biomedical engineering, materials science, and economics, to name a few. [7] [8]
This is an accepted version of this page This is the latest accepted revision, reviewed on 31 December 2024. Law of physics and chemistry This article is about the law of conservation of energy in physics. For sustainable energy resources, see Energy conservation. Part of a series on Continuum mechanics J = − D d φ d x {\displaystyle J=-D{\frac {d\varphi }{dx}}} Fick's laws of diffusion ...