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Re: ENERGY BEFORE Q



At 11:52 PM 10/11/01 -0600, Jim Green wrote:

The concept of "energy" was a mathematical invention by Young before the
concept of work was derived. Energy was not discovered in the sense of an
"aha see this neat fluid". That folly came much later.

The concept of "energy" predates N#2 in its present form: F=ma

Thomas Young was extremely influential in a number of areas, including
optics, elasticity, and Egyptology. It is however extremely unlikely that
he influenced Newton, because Newton died in 1727 and Young wasn't born
until 1773.

http://www-groups.dcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Newton.html
http://physics.rug.ac.be/Fysica/Geschiedenis/Mathematicians/Young.html
http://www.xrefer.com/entry/495401
http://www.encyclopedia.com/articles/14111.html

The modern notion of force was well established long before
Young coined the term "energy" in the physical sense in 1807.
His definition of energy (corresponding roughly to what we would call
KINETIC energy) is long since obsolete.

http://216.156.253.178/CENTURY/03/index03.djvu?djvuopts&page=150

Standard accounts of the history of science attribute the modern notion of
energy as a conserved quantity to W. Thompson (not to be confused with B.
Thompson) and Clausius (working independently) around 1850, more than 150
years after Newton.

http://www.public.asu.edu/~warrenve/s19_heat.html

I assume that we all know this cold.

It's bad luck to know wrong things, cold or otherwise.

Hence "energy" was not originally "defined" in terms of "work",

1) This sentence is true except for the "hence".

2) When I'm teaching the concept, I don't much care how it was "originally"
defined. The "original" definition is grotesquely obsolete. The history
of science is an !advanced! topic -- it is a terrible guide to introductory
teaching.

3) Even though I think energy should be introduced as a primary and
fundamental quantity, and work defined in terms of energy, I won't stoop to
using completely bogus historical arguments to support my position.

I feel silly posting this, but maybe a reminder is helpful.

Spending a few minutes checking the facts would reduce the silliness by
quite a bit.