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Re: CONSERVATION OF ENERGY



My brief comment to the opinion that "heat" should be reserved to the
"transmission of energy by the effect of a difference in temperature"
(as stated by Al Bachman).
Of course, you can use it consistently with this meaning, but be
aware that then you must agree that a microwave oven does NOT "heat"
the food, and you must also also discard many other similar processes.

I think I've told this story before: One cold night in December of 1981
I was observing at the #4-16" telescope on Kitt Peak. It was my first
time observing there and I was not completely up to speed on all the
features of the software I was using. Kitt Peak had an interesting
policy at that time. The computers there all worked in the same language,
Forth*, and I knew only enough of that language to make my photometric
observations.

Well, this neophyte astronomer lost control of his telescope halfway
through the night. I had misunderstood a suggestion made to me at night
lunch and on returning to my dome I did something (I still don't know
what) which put me at odds with the computer. I could type in commands,
and some of them worked. Some worked almost right, and some didn't work
at all. Being male (a well-known handicap in situations where one has
no idea what's going on) I didn't call the techs for help until I'd
lost half the night.

The problem, I was told, was that I'd got the computer into what is
known in Forth as "the wrong vocabulary". My inexperience with Forth
had me trying to communicate with software that *partially understood*
my commands by chance. The operative software used some of the same
words as the software I thought I was using. Some words had the same
meanings, some had slightly different meanings, and some commands were
utterly meaningless.

I don't think I have to elaborate the parallels here. This is a physics
discussion list. The physical meanings of words are the only appropriate
meanings in the discussion of physics. I would say the same thing as is
said above in the kitchen; it would be appropriate. In a physics context
Al Bachman's tecnically correct usage is the only one that will maintain
reasonable control. We can't vote on the vocabulary; the community has
voted and we didn't get to participate. I would have preferred a
computer language with which I was familiar (I was big on APL in 1980 -
imagine what would have happened if I'd switched the mountain to APL).
My preferences make no difference. Dictionaries are out; physical
conventions are in!

Leigh

* Forth is a language invented by radio astronomers and used by them to
control telescopes. The reason for not allowing other languages on the
computers at Kitt Peak was given to me as simplicity. The technicians
were able to maintain software and solve problems at night more quickly
for visiting observers if the systems were kept simple and standard.