Re: CONSERVATION OF ENERGY

[brian whatcott <inet@intellisys.net>]

At 07:56 7/17/97 EDT, Ludwik wrote:

> I have a copy of a copy of Bruce's article (with a lot of margin notes
> which are not mine) and will send it to you today. It a copy I made during
> the workshop for physics teachers in Arizona. This thread was triggered
> by a conversation about Sherwood's article. How to teach about work, heat
> and energy was one of the concerns at this workshop. I hoped that phys-L-ers
> will help to clarify the issue at the level that most high school physics
> teachers can understand. But you you are the only one who actually responded
> to the hypothetical high school physics problem posted two days ago. If we
> had several resopnses ....
>
> ... Ludwik Kowalski
I am obliged for the reprint. I think John M also provided a worked example
which I hope you received. The shark metaphor I used earlier was not
particularly about peoples' aggressive behavior, but rather the difficulty
of some of the concepts. I was initially concerned about my personal
heat/light ratio on this topic, but I was pleased to carry away from this
thread a prize:
the heat versus warmth issue along with the idea that friction = work
from John, and the contradictory piece (I think) from Bowman who noted
 that kinetic energy dissipated in a finally unmoving mass cannot be work.

When sincerely held differences of this sort occur, it is a sure indicator
that more aggravating pearls need to be seeded into more oysters.

Best Regards
brian whatcott <inet@intellisys.net>
Altus OK