Re: What Flows?

["Paul Camp" <pjcamp@coastal.edu>]

> Does anyone have any evidence,
> anecdotal or otherwise, that using the words 'energy flows' tend to cause
> students to think in terms of the caloric model?  Is this true even when
> the words are used along with an emphasis that energy is not a substance?
> Is there evidednce combining these two ingredients causes confusion?
>
> -- 
> --James McLean
> jmclean@chem.ucsd.edu

Ok, anecdotal: Ask any student (even half the grad students you know) 
to explain why the flame of a match points upwards and he will tell 
you "heat rises" pretty much of the time. That this does not mean helium 
balloons are hot and does not explain flames in zero g environments 
is immaterial -- it indicates a readiness to conceive of something 
along the lines of a caloric model for cultural reasons.

Paul J. Camp                   "The Beauty of the Universe
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