Chronology | Current Month | Current Thread | Current Date |
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] | [Date Index] [Thread Index] | [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] | [Date Prev] [Date Next] |
Leigh, how should dU=c*m*dt be called? We used to call it "heat" but
this was in conflict with how heat is defined in thermodynamics. What
is wrong with the name "thermal energy"? It is now used by many authors.
As you state, it should properly be called heat, since a process, though
not a uniquely specified one, is implicit. It is certainly not an energy.
Use of the symbol dU (by which I infer you mean the change in U) is most
improper; heat is not the change in anything. You should use Q instead:
Q = m c dT
where m is the mass of a homogeneous system having heat capacity per
unit mass c (some modifier is appropriate here) and dt is the change in
temperature that occurs in the process of heating.
Treating heat, work, and energy as though they are all the same thing
is [wrong].