Re: macroscopic vs microscopic degrees of freedom

[John Mallinckrodt <ajmallinckro@CSUPOMONA.EDU>]

On Sun, 31 Oct 1999, Rick Tarara wrote:

> > > James Prescott Joule operated his paddle-wheel and called the long-term
> > > result heat.  Lots of other people do the same.
> >
> > Perhaps.  I don't really care.
>
> I repeat my earlier stated concerns.  While these attitudes are certainly OK
> amongst practicing Physicists, are they really OK amongst teachers of
> Physics?  Do we make physics even more inaccessible to students if every
> instructor has his/her own set of pet definitions and unique curricula such
> that REAL conflicts (for the student) occur when moving from one course to
> the next?

Rick,

I'm not sure whose attitude you are aiming these remarks at, perhaps both
of ours.  I also don't really know whether Joule "called the long term
result 'heat'" or not.  I don't care and I think you are saying that you
don't either.  I think you *are* saying that all that matters is that we
present a unified (and hopefully, but perhaps less importantly (?),
coherent) view to introductory students.  I would not disagree very much.
Furthermore, I think that the modern perspective of virtually all
textbooks is that the short and long term result in the Joule experiment
is increased internal energy, not heat.

John Mallinckrodt      mailto:ajm@csupomona.edu
Cal Poly Pomona          http://www.csupomona.edu/~ajm