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This thread concerning the nature of heat, and whether or not it is
"correct" to say that heat flows, reminds me of a lesson that I taught
during my first experience as a physics teacher.
It was in the middle of the fall semester. The unit examination on
mechanics had been given, the test papers had been returned, and we
were ready to introduce the
second major unit of the course.... HEAT.
After attendance had been taken, I posed the question, "What is heat?"
. There was complete silence in the room. No one would volunteer an
answer and help get the discussion started. I repeated the question
and waited ..... still no answers ... just a room full of blank faces.
I tried again, rewording the question. I asked "How do we get
something hot?" Again, there was no response from any of the
students. I waited. Soon, the face of one of the boys came alive and
he started to snicker. It caught on and it didn't take long until
there were three or four others snickering and smiling at each other.
But still no volunteers. Not to be undaunted, I kept a straight face
and tried again. " What
happens if you rub some things together for a while? Don't they get
hot?" By this time the whole class came alive with understanding and
it was impossible to continue the lesson.
Herb Gottlieb from New York City
(Where we have learned never to ask "how do we get something hot?".