Your thoughts on processor power dissipation

Question

Conservation of energy says that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only converted, then what happens... if a microprocessor consumes 50 watts, and only 20% is converted into heat... How is the remaining wattage dissipated? Does the processing of information itself consume power?

mberman · Accepted Answer

Hi Martin,

I think you know the answer to your question. Yes, of course, the rest of the energy is used by the microprocessor to provide fast computations, process commands and provide drive to the output devices. This is true of all electronic, electrical and mechanical devices.

Kind regards,

Mel