With considerable trepidation and without any intention of re-opening
a can of worms, I have put on the web a brief handout bridging the
work-energy theorem and the first law of therm:
It is essentially a simplified summary of Mallinckrodt and Leff's
work (which is not meant to imply they have endorsed this) and is
just one page long, plus one page of some admittedly nontrivial
footnotes. I think the summary itself is pretty unarguable within the
context in which it is presented. But it is the footnotes which will
probably give pause for thought.
So I would be particularly pleased to hear comments (in private or to
the list) about the footnotes.
All intended in a friendly spirit of course, Carl
--
Carl E. Mungan, Asst. Prof. of Physics 410-293-6680 (O) -3729 (F)
U.S. Naval Academy, Stop 9C, Annapolis, MD 21402-5026
mungan@usna.edu http://physics.usna.edu/physics/faculty/mungan/