Foundations of Energy
How energy is stored, transferred and transformed — from falling objects to living cells.
Graph explorer
Explore the knowledge graph
7 concepts viewed through this lens. Bridge concepts connect this view to Acoustics, Aerospace Engineering, Audio Engineering, Biology….
Legend
- Focused concept
- Connected concept
- Bridge concept (just outside the lens)
- Arrow points from cause / source to effect / target
- A line with no arrow is a two-way relationship
- Node colour marks the concept’s primary discipline
10 concepts9 relationships9 disciplines5 relation families
Heat engine
Open concept →At a glance
A heat engine is a system that transfers thermal energy to do mechanical or electrical work.
- Disciplines
- Physics · Thermodynamics · Mechanical Engineering · Energy Engineering
- Role in the graph
- Cross-disciplinary bridge — reaches Economics, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Nuclear Engineering, Sustainability Science
- Relationships
- 9 · 5 relation families
- Mental models
- 1
What am I looking at?
In this lens (7)
- illuminated by this discipline
- illuminated by this discipline
- illuminated by this discipline
- illuminated by this discipline
- illuminated by this discipline
Bridge concepts (29)
Just outside the lens — they connect it to other context.
- Aerospace Engineering, Engineering · connects to Fluid dynamics
- Acoustics, Audio Engineering · connects to Resonance
- Physics · connects to Fluid dynamics
- Physics, Thermodynamics · connects to Heat engine
- Economics, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Physics, Sustainability Science · connects to Heat engine
Insights from this view
Structural observations about the concepts shown here — descriptions of this graph, not claims about the world.
- This view connects 9 disciplines: Economics, Energy Engineering, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Nuclear Engineering, Physics, Sustainability Science, Thermodynamics.
- Heat engine is a bridge concept — viewed here through Energy Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, Thermodynamics.
- The connections here span 5 relation families.
- Trade offs explains 3 concepts in this view (Economics, Energy Engineering, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, Sustainability Science, Thermodynamics).
Relationships as a list
The focused concept’s relationships. Pick another concept in the graph above to update this list.
Explore through a different lens
A lens is a deterministic projection of the graph. Pick a discipline, thinking pattern or journey to reframe the whole view.
By thinking pattern
Bayesian updatingCause and effectCompoundingConservationConstraintsDefense in depthDiffusion & spreadEmergenceEnergy transformationEntropy & irreversibilityEquilibriumFeedback loopIncentivesInformationLevels & hierarchyModularityNetworksOptimizationOscillationProbabilityRecursion & self-similarityScaleSignal vs noiseSource–pathway–receptorStocks and flowsSymmetry & invarianceThresholds & tipping pointsTrade-offsTriangulationVariation & selectionWaves
Concept collections
Concept collections are curated lenses onto the fabric — themed sets of ideas that recur across disciplines. They are not journeys; they are a way to read the graph.
Understanding Systems
Stocks, flows and feedback — why wholes behave in ways their parts do not.
Patterns Everywhere
Regularities that recur across maths, music, nature and art.
How Information Moves
Encoding, signals and noise — the same idea in computers, genes and nerves.
About this view
What this is
Start from one concept and expand outward. The view never shows everything at once — click a node to refocus, filter by relationship type, or switch to an accessible list.
One fabric
3750 concepts and 5051 typed relations form one connected component — no isolated silo.
How to read it
Focus a concept, or apply a lens (discipline, mental model, journey) to see only the threads that matter.