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Re: CONSERVATION OF ENERGY



various people hav ewritten
At 22:05 7/14/97 -0700, Leigh Palmer wrote:
[Ludwik]
Why is it misleading to say that "energy is the ability to do work"?

[Leigh]
It's wrong. It doesn't mean anything. Now I retire from the fray.

Leigh

Leigh will not be satisfied it seems by anything less than this:
"Energy: the property of a system that is a measure of its capacity for
doing work"

You might be excused for mistaking Ludwik's construction for the dictionary
definition that I take to be Leigh's view.

Regards

brian whatcott <inet@intellisys.net>
Altus OK

I SUSPECT (and HOPE) that Leigh would not be so easily molified!
There is a quantity in quantum calculations known as
Zero Point Energy.

It is the random kinetic energy that remains even at absolute zero. It can
NOT do work, but continues to be called 'Energy'. (At least is was in the
'good old days!)

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