From: "JACK L. URETSKY (C)1998; HEP DIVISION, ARGONNE NATIONAL LAB ARGONNE, IL 60439" <JLU@HEP.ANL.GOV>
Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1999 12:40:51 -0500
Hi all-
I am picking on a portion of John Denker's posting to make a pedagogical
point that seems to have been overlooked:
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2) The remaining question is whether this is useful. Mentioning the gas
law and not mentioning energy runs the risk of giving students the idea
that temperature is *defined* by the gas law and perhaps that it doesn't
fully apply to things other than ideal gasses.
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I think that most physics students have previously been in chemistry
courses. Chem courses that I am familiar with usually start out with physical
chemistry concepts, including the gas law. So your introductory physics course
does not bear the burden of shaping students' total conceptions of those matters
that are dealt with under the title "thermodynamics".
My opinion is that the billiard-balls bouncing off a wall model is
worthwhile because it gives students an added insight into concepts with
which they are already familiar.
Regards,
Jack
"I scored the next great triumph for science myself,
to wit, how the milk gets into the cow. Both of us
had marveled over that mystery a long time. We had
followed the cows around for years - that is, in the
daytime - but had never caught them drinking fluid of
that color."
Mark Twain, Extract from Eve's
Autobiography