Re: heat is a form of energy

[Jim Green <JMGreen@SISNA.COM>]

Bill Beaty says --


> When GR took the reins from Newtonian Mechanics early this century,
> Newton's Laws became a special case of a more general model.  In other
> words, they became "wrong".  At least it became wrong to apply them
> universally as had been done before this change.  Yet Newton's Laws
> remained just as useful in everyday application.

Bill, I see your point here, but I also think that I see a fatal flaw in
this analogy --

Newtonian Mechanics is to me more like a special case of GR --- and the
laboratory frame a special case of that -- I hope that this is thought is
accepted here,  Newtonian Mechanics is very accurate for most of us most of
the time -- and should  be taught as such -- an appropriate part of intro
physics.

BUT caloric ideas -- of a substantive heat or energy flowing -- has always
been dead wrong -- not a special case of anything.  We as teachers should
not perpetuate these ideas.  I don't see some sort of over-reaching
thermal-physics which reduces to "heat flow" or "energy flow" in some kind
of special case.  No matter how it is couched, it is and has always been wrong.

I don't think that any of us would hold that it would be useful to teach in
an intro class that projectile motion is linear until the projectile runs
out of "impetus" and then falls vertically downward as it was taught
centuries ago -- this is not a special case of any mechanics -- it is just
plain wrong.  This surely should not be taught in a physics class except as
an example of cartoon physics -- nor should a substantive heat or energy --
nor that "heat" is somehow a form of "energy".

I think that this analogy is closer to the point.

Jim Green
mailto:JMGreen@sisna.com
http://users.sisna.com/jmgreen