Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Re: Textbook Errors



Jim Green wrote:

So here I am reading Joule's paper on the mechanical equivalent of "heat"
where he says -- "The apparatus exhibited before the Association consisted
of a brass paddle-wheel working *horizontally* in a can of water..."
....
So now I am left wondering just what the Joule apparatus was like! Anybody
know where there is an accurate picture???

Jim Green

The book "Great Experiments in Physics", edited by Morris Shamos
(Dover) has a reprint of Joule's paper, including diagrams of the
apparatus. (pp 166-183.) Except for some details about the pulley
arrangements by which the falling weights turn the paddles, the picture
looks very much like what I've seen in standard physics texts.
(Speaking of "errors", it's interesting to note that Joule uses the
word "force" whenever referring to energy. It's also interesting to
see how many significant digits are reported for the measurements
and results.)

Steve Luzader
Frostburg State University
sluzader@fre.fsu.umd.edu