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Re: Insulation/temp gradient



At 04:38 PM 9/7/97 -0400, Bob Sciamanda wrote:
LUDWIK KOWALSKI wrote:

Electric Q can flow while thermal Q, some would say, can not.

I think that's a red herring

Yes it is. If I labeled the quantity of grapes thrown, I could say that
grapes=Q flows. Thermal Q does not MOVE; it is DONE.

teaching power of the mathematical isomorphism; but if you insist, I
would point out that our classical microscopic views of the two
processes are not all that different. In both cases a directed drift
velocity is superimposed upon otherwise random motion.
Furthermore, in both cases it is the particles' property (charge /
random kinetic energy) which is of interest and is usefully described as
changing position.

I am almost led to tears of frustration -- The author just has not been
paying attention!

Neutrons ("things") would carry heat but not charge.

Nothing CARRIES heat -- heat is not a substance which plates a neutron like
some sort of goo -- It is what the neutron might DO if it were to strike the
molecules of a system and bounce off. Nor is it a "property", like "red" as
in "red herring" or like "charge" or "mass". If the molecule does heat, it
does NOT enter the system -- unless of course one want's to muddy the water
with ideas of chemical potential, which are likewise poorly understood --
the Great Gibbs notwithstanding -- but he was a chemist and is not expected
to understand these things. (:-)

The thing is only the carrier, the property (an abstract human
invention) being carried is the subject of our interest here (whether
or not that property is conserved is another red herring.).

Leigh would have stronger things to say at this point -- I just yell
impolite things at my monitor.


Jim Green
JMGreen@sisna.com