Perhaps the controversies over "heat", "flow", "transfer of
energy" and (can I say it?) even what "energy" means in thermo suggest
that there is both the need and interest in these areas to explore them
in a semiformal setting. I'd like to invite a few presentations at a
symposium scheduled for the Spring Meeting of the American Chemical
Society in San Francisco the week of April 6, which I will be chairing. .
The topic is "New Approaches to Teaching Thermodynamics"; I suggest that
clarifying some (evidently) persistent problems would, per se, be a
new approach.
This would give some of us in chemistry the added opportunity to
compare understandings with those in physics. I'd like to think that we
could even find some common ground (despite the difficulty of finding it
within either discipline!).
As some of you know, my approach begins with a direct challange
to the logic of calling the U function internal ENERGY. I will also be
presenting an energy cycle alternative to the Carnot cycle that does, I
think, offer a more logical standard for efficiency. There will be ample
opportunity for discussion.
Larry Sacks
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* *
* L. J. Sacks, Professor of Chemistry, emeritus *
* Christopher Newport University *
* Newport News, VA 23606-1502 lsacks@cnu.edu *
* (757) 930-2045 *
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