That simply means that some energy is lost, due to friction and other causes.
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why is the efficiency of a calorimeter less than 100%
Second class lever. . . . Always greater than 1 . Third class lever . . . . . Always less than 1 . First class lever . . . . . Can be greater than 1 or less than 1 depending on position of fulcrum.
The efficiency is always less than one because some of the energy is always useless for what you want. Most wasted energy eventually turns into heat. therefore the efficiency is like a percentage with 1 being 100% a device can't be 100% efficient as some energy is wasted. To work out the efficiency of a device you need to do the total useful energy produced divided by the total energy that is inputted into the device
The Law of Conservation of Energy states that energy can't be created or destroyed. Thus, efficiency is 1 (i.e., 100%) if there is a perfect energy conversion. Since this is usually not the case, and some energy is wasted, the efficiency of most energy conversions is less than 100% (or less than a factor of 1).
An efficiency factor of 1 (or 100% efficiency) is not possible due to losses that cannot be reduced to zero. These losses take the form of friction, heat loss etc.