I already received the message (about Sears and Zemansky) which was posted
at about 10 or 11 a.m. But no echo from the message posted several hours
earlier. I do not understand why. Therefore I am reposting it again. My
apologies to those who might see this short message twice today. I just
want unload this pending file before leaving today.
What follows was posted this morning.
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I noticed that nobody commented on the idea of eliminating heat and work,
from the arsenal of our tools. Is this because everybody, including myself,
is tired of this long thread? Yes. But another interpretation is possible.
Knowing about the joke at the end of the message many of you went directly
to it and did not read the message. To compensate for this let me repeat
the idea, this time without a joke. A third interpretation, that the idea
is SILLY, is possible. Do not hesitate to say so; I already made fool out
of myself on several occasions. Doing this one more time will not kill me.
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..... What about eliminating "work" and "heat" from the arsenal of our
conceptual tools? Is this possible? Is this desirable? How can this be
accomplished?
How can the first law be stated without W and Q? We would say that "an
energy change inside a system is always accompanied by an energy change
outside. The two changes are equal in magnitude but not necessarily in
form". And how can thermal engines be discussed without the word flow?
In terms of 'thermal energy input', 'thermal energy output' and 'mechanical
energy output'. The mechanical output of a simple machines, such as a lever,
is usually nearly equal to its mechanical input, both in joules.
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Ludwik Kowalski
ALSO THIS:
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Energy is a very abstract concept which can not be defined "in general";
it can only be defined "in particular". After knowing what particular
forms of energy are we are able to say that "energy" is a generic word
for many particular (often ovelapping) forms, such as mechanical, electrical,
etc. Mechanical forms of energy include kinetic, gravitational and elastic.
In physics all forms of energy are quatities expressed joules. The word
"total" is often used for a sum of several forms of energy. New forms of
energy are defined by scientists, as needed.
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