[Phys-L] Re: Energy is primary and fundamental?

[dschroeder at WEBER.EDU (Dan Schroeder)]

Apologies for joining this discussion rather late.  I guess I'm one of
the "some physicists" mentioned below, although I've never taught high
school or even a standard Physics 101 college course.  However, for
three years I did teach an honors physical science course, with energy
as the unifying concept, for college students who were not majoring in
science.

For that course I wrote some text materials which you can download from
<http://physics.weber.edu/schroeder/energy/>.  Don't get your hopes
up--these materials are not even close to being a textbook.  Rather,
they're a very terse overview of the core physics that students were
expected to learn, with a collection of student exercises.  In the
course, these materials were supplemented by additional readings from a
wide variety of other sources, plus hands-on experiments and other
activities.  By the way, if you read Chapter 2 you'll see that I did
not (nor was it my goal to) eliminate all reference to force and work.
However, I did pretty much eliminate acceleration!

Another excellent resource is Bob Romer's old book, Energy:  An
Introduction to Physics (Freeman, 1976, unfortunately out of print).

Without trying to get into an argument with those who feel that this
approach to physics is idiotic, here is a list of some of the
advantages that I see:

* Energy is a familiar concept in everyday life, tangible because we
pay for it (in dollars, pounds gained, etc.).
* Energy is an important political issue that all educated citizens
must understand.
* Energy is a key concept in other sciences:  chemistry, biology,
geology, astronomy.
* Energy-related quantities and calculations provide an outstanding
opportunity to develop students' numeracy skills.
* Energy really is more fundamental than force.  While some particular
forms of energy (gravitational, elastic) are closely related to force
and are calculated from measured forces, other forms of energy
(thermal, chemical, electrical) are calculated from entirely different
measurements.  Energy in general is a much deeper and broader concept
than force.

Dan S.


> Date:    Wed, 10 Aug 2005 12:09:47 -0500
> From:    Dan Crowe <dcrowe@SOTC.ORG>
> Subject: Energy is primary and fundamental? (was RE: First Day
> Activities or
>          Demos)
>
> John,
>
> Some physicists advocate starting a first course in physics at the high
> school level with energy and energy conservation, but I don't know how
> to do that.
>
> How do you define energy without reference to force or work?
>
> How can high school students develop an understanding of energy and
> energy conservation at the beginning of their first course in physics?
>
> What guidance should a teacher provide in this process?
>
> Daniel Crowe
> Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics
> Ardmore Regional Center
> dcrowe@sotc.org