Dear Leigh:
You seem to advocate the teaching of physics without using the
everyday English language, since its terms are vague and ill defined.
How would you teach it? Just by gestures? WE MUST NECESSARILY USE IT.
But we must undergo the process of REFINING it, in order to arrive at
the correct physical concepts. I don't see any alternative!
Example: In mathematics, an ORDERED SET is defined as a set
X={a,b,c,...} and a relation "<" such that for any two distict elements
a,b of X, one and only one of the two relations a<b or b<a is correct.
From here it follows, for example: THEOREM: Any deck of cards
given to you is ordered. PROOF: define a<b if card a is higher
in the deck than card b.
You see, there do not exist "disordered" decks of cards! This
contradicts the usual use of the word "disordered"!
Comment about entropy NOT depending on information: Assume you have
one liter of oxygen gas, at standard atmospheric pressure, 0 deg.C,
in a container in steady state of equilibrium. Its entropy is certainly
defined. Do you KNOW the state of the gas? Of course, NOT - the
microscopic state, I mean, the position and velocity of each of its
molecules. So that information has something to do with this whole
circle of concepts. To have a CLEAR IDEA one must, of course,study
statistical (Boltzmann-) mechanics.
Best regards Emilio