Re: [Phys-l] Energy divided by power can be a residence time

[Brian Whatcott <betwys1@sbcglobal.net>]

Jeff Radtke wrote:
> Although there is much discussion about modeling power as a flow, I  
> have not found references to this idea in the literature.  Has anyone  
> seen this before?
>
> Best Wishes,
>
> Jeff Radtke
There is something appealing about a system of units whereby a unit force
applied for unit distance in the direction of the force is defined as 
unit work,
and where that force applied in the direction for which unit speed applies
is defined as unit power.
What more appropriate names could be desired for these units, than the 
Newton,
whose hand would have provided the eponymous unit force to hold a fair apple
in place, and Watt whose marketing prose embodied a term for power
and Joule that scion of a Midlands brewery who experimented to find an
equivalence between mechanical and thermal energy?
I see we still lack a word for unit speed: surely some agreeable term 
could be
found for a speed of one meter per second?

The flow  embodied in the term for electrical power is the flow rate
of electrons in response to unit electrical motivation;
and the unit energy represents  a count of those electrons
(or equivalent charge carriers)
flowing for unit time in response to unit potential.
What could possibly fit together as well ( unless perhaps arguments
concerning circularity enter, I suppose?)

Couching the Radke thought in electrical terms then:
Energy (joules) / Power (watts) =
volts times amps times seconds
  divided by
volts times amps.

Why yes, the quotient can be given in seconds.
What sort of physical reality could be embodied in this measure?
If a given energy is dispensed at the lowest power, it will have effect
for the most seconds....
Or, the energy required to provide a given power is proportional to the
time for which the pwer is expended?

Brian W