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]

Re: CONSERVATION OF ENERGY




On Thu, 24 Jul 97 10:29:08 EDT LUDWIK KOWALSKI
<kowalskil@alpha.montclair.edu> writes:
On 24 Jul 1997 01:27:57 - Leigh Palmer <palmer@sfu.ca> wrote:

If energy is transferred solely by the agency of a temperature
difference the transfer process is called "heat".

Several days ago he insisted that c*(M+m)*dT [for sliding blocks whose
masses are M and m] should ALSO be called "heat". The two blocks form
a
closed system and neither Q nor W is transferred. But the temperature
of the system changes by dT after the dissipated kinetic energy is
redistributed. Why was it wrong to say that c*(M+m)*dT represents an
increase in thermal energy? Use another adjective, if you prefer.
Leigh
does not want to discuss this with me; what do you think?
Ludwik
Kowalski

I agree that a verb that means "increase the energy of" or "increase the
temperature of" is a troublesome point. I would welcome a truly
sensible, linguistically acceptable solution (or solutions) - The
amateur