Re: entropy

[palmer@sfu.ca (Leigh Palmer)]

> I don't know how much thermo H. S. students are typically expected
> to study and know. It has been too long for me to remember my own
> experience with H. S. thermo.

I still remember mine. We learned about temperature and temperature
scales (and how to convert), heat capacities, thermal expansion,
latent heats of phase transitions, and the mechanical equivalent of
heat. I seem to recall we also learned about wet and dry bulb
thermometer readings. Somehow my teacher didn't think I'd be at any
disadvantage not knowing that entropy is a measure of disorder. It
turns out he was right. No one clued me in on the disorder thing
until I learned about the line of spins; then it made sense!

I think all those topics are suitable for high school, including
the wet and dry bulb thermometer stuff. I remember that the radio
used to carry "frost warnings" (I grew up in LA and there were
orange groves where Disneyland now stands). We learned about that,
too, and of course dew points. Students in appropriate geographical
locations should learn why they sometimes have to scrape ice from
their windshields when the air temperature is above freezing. There
are far more thermal phenomena that kids ought to be told about in
high school, while they may retain some trace of curiosity about
them and when they are ready to learn them, than any teacher can
possibly cover in the time allotted. Why on Earth must we include
arcana like entropy in a high school curriculum when we can't even
do it right?

Leigh