Looks like reader Brandy is winning the race for most killer lab track contributions. This week, we bring you her suggestion of a tune by ’90s Canadian satire-pop band Moxy Früvous (their website is worth a visit if only for the glimpse of what the internet looked like back in 2002).
This one neatly describes both the first law of thermodynamics and that other stubborn little principle that many cranks forget about — entropy! Enjoy.
Galileo, Newton, Watt, they were geniuses all
Without them we’d be freezing in the dark at the mall
James Joule found total energy remains the same
No matter what its form
That’s why it carries his nameA chemical, electrical, potential and heat,
Radiant, kinetic, ooh the list is incomplete
They’re always changing back and forth
It’s really quite a blur
Oh, how could he?
I’ve forgotten nuclear!Ride a barrel down the falls
Then cook spaghetti with meatballs
Really make your friends amazed
Nuke it with some gamma rays
Fly to Venus in a rocket
Put your finger in a socket
You may suffer from exhaust,
But none of that energy is ever really lostThen why can’t we make a clean machine that moves perpetually?
Cause there’s another law with which all energy must agree
Whenever it changes form, it loses qualityIn other words…
Damn that rising entropy!It’s entropy you see that turns finesse into mess
A palace to a pig stye, why, it’s simply scandalous!
Energy once neat degenerates into waste heat (We must repeat)
Because of entropy.
This has been another installment of Monday Lab Tracks. Send us your musical recommendations through our contact link at the top of the page, and tell us what you think of the song in the comments below!
