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: Stop using calories?



Caloric used to be
defined as an invisible weightless material that is found in all
matter but, as we all know, the entire concept of caloric was
disproved by Count Rumford in the 18th century. Some
scientists, and a large segment of the public, still cling to
this outmoded concept of adding or removing caloric.
However, knowing that there is no such thing as caloric, they
call the same invisible, weightless material HEAT or HEAT
ENERGY. Does changing the name change the concept?

Herb Gottlieb from New York City

Actually, a JRST (J of Research in Science Teaching) by Linn et al
had an article discussing the most prevalently used (by mechanical
engineers and other experts) conceptual model in thermal problem
solving. That was heat flow or thermal gradient movement. the article
describes why MC Linn et al then base their Middle School thermodynamic
curriculum on this model. Their stuff is online at:
http://www.clp.berkeley.edu/CLP.html AND
http://www.kie.berkeley.edu/KIE.html

The article was
Linn, M. C. & Songer, N. B. (1991). Teaching thermodynamics to middle school
students: What are appropriate cognitive demands? Journal of Research in
Science Teaching, 28(10), 885-918.

I also recall an episode of Philip Morrison's "Ring of Truth" where
he states that heating an object in an enclosed container DOES raise its
mass by a teeeennnsy-weeensie (SI- tw) amount via E = mc^2.
So caloric/heat/heat energy is NOT massless at all...

More blatant heresy from,

Dan MacIsaac, Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Northern AZ Univ
danmac@nau.edu http://www.phy.nau.edu/~danmac/homepage.html