[Phys-l] mushrooms ... and other terminology issues

[John Denker <jsd@av8n.com>]

On 08/09/2011 07:11 AM, carmelo@pacific.net.sg wrote:
> Actually, physicists have defined heat as a process, but many explain  
> with "flow of heat", thus suggesting heat as a noun.
> Many textbooks are also using heat as a noun.
>
> Maybe biologists are laughing at physicists...

The whole discussion of mushrooms has been been good for a
laugh and not much else.

Biologists figured this one out many decades ago.  They have
perfectly good terms for the following functional distinction:
  -- green plant --> autotroph
  -- mushroom    --> heterotroph

These terms have been in use for 50 years that I know of, maybe
more.

As for the other terms that have been mentioned, a Venus fly 
trap is both a carnivore and a predator.  The questions about 
this could have been answered by looking in a dictionary:
  -- carnivore  --> eats meat
  -- predator   --> catches prey

The roots of these words go back thousands of years.

The Venus fly trap is an ambush predator as surely as an ant
lion is.

===========

As for the term "heat", it is misleading to say
> physicists have defined heat as a process

because in physics there are at least four different technical 
definitions of "heat" ... in addition to innumerable non-technical 
and/or metaphorical definitions.  This is par for the course, by 
which I mean that many, many terms have multiple definitions ... 
in physics as well as in biology, mathematics, and every other 
field.

The sooner people (including students) learn to emphasize the
ideas rather than the terminology, the better off everyone will
be.  Terminology and notation are important only insofar as they
help us formulate and communicate the ideas.