Re: HEAT1=HEAT2 ?

[LUDWIK KOWALSKI <kowalskil@alpha.montclair.edu>]

On 28 Aug 1997 Van E. Neie <ven@PHYSICS.PURDUE.EDU> wrote:

> This discussion regarding the use of the term "heat" has become "heated,"
> to say the least!  It really is amazing how such a vast number of
> supposedly well-educated physicists ... can't seem to get it right!  
> And since it has been stated earler in this discussion that NO textbook 
> authors ever (rarely?) get it right, we can only conclude that textbooks 
> are written (and proofread) by the less knowledgable of the lot of 
> physicists.  I'd say this is serious!

This comment calls for a less sorcastic question. How come that teachers
who specialize in identifying misconceptions failed to point out that the 
name heat, as defined in thermodynamics (a process impelled by a difference 
in temperatures), is not consistent with the way in which students and
teachers use it in elementary physics? We are not dealing with a scientific
issue here, we are dealing with pedagogy (and terminology). Scientists have
no difficulties with reading the meaning from a context.
                                                          Ludwik Kowalski