-----Original Message-----
From: John Denker [SMTP:jsd@MONMOUTH.COM]
Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 1999 11:10 AM
To: PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu
Subject: Re: Energy as ability to do work
At 09:59 AM 10/26/99 -0500, Lemmerhirt, Fred wrote:
>Lately there have been several emphatic rejections of the old idea
of energy
>as the "ability of a system to do work". I'm wondering if those
who oppose
>this approach do so because: 1) they feel it is just plain
"wrong"; 2) it
>is incomplete and lacks generality; or 3) they just don't find it
as
>"intellectually satisfying" as a more abstract approach. (or maybe
for some
>other reason)
I vote for "just plain wrong".
Consider a block of brass with some initial temperature. Then I
dump ten
joules of heat into it. The incremental ability of the system to do
work
with that energy is somewhat less, possibly very much less, than the
incremental energy.
______________________________________________________________
copyright (C) 1999 John S. Denker jsd@monmouth.com
Now to me this sounds more like "lacks generality", since it's just an
example of a case where the "ability to do work" point of view does not
apply (and is not usually even attempted).
Fred
______________________________________________________
Fred Lemmerhirt
flemmerhirt@mail.wcc.cc.il.us http://chat.wcc.cc.il.us/~flemmerh/physics.html
Waubonsee Community College Sugar Grove, Illinois