Re: thermal energy

[Herbert H Gottlieb <herbgottlieb@JUNO.COM>]

Savinainen
You raise some interesting questions about the work and philosophy of
Arnold Arons. Rather than speak for him,  am forwarding a copy of your
questions to Arnold  I am sure that his reply will satgisfy you and the
other interested members of our network.

Herb Gottlieb from New York City

On Thu, 02 Mar 2000 21:26:00 +0200 Savinainen Antti
<antti.savinainen@KUOPIO.FI> writes:
> Hello,
>
> I have a question on concept of thermal energy. I’d like to have a
> solid definition for it. Here are some quotes:
>
> 1) Fundamentals of Physics (Halliday, Resnick & Walker), 4th
> edition, p. 188
>
> ”.., thermal energy, which is associated with the random motions of
> atoms and molecules in a body,...”
>
> Later in the text thermal energy is used as a synonym for internal
> energy. Giancoli’s Physics follows the same convention. It may be
> appropriate in the introductory course but I suspect that there must
> be a difference in a closer analysis as the next quotation suggests.
>
> 2) Teaching Introductory Physics (Arnold B. Arons), p. 147
>
> Arons lists different internal energy changes:
>
> (a) Internal thermal energy change
> (b) Internal chemical energy changes
> (c) Internal kinetic energy change (includes translational and
> rotational energy changes)
> (d) Internal potential energy changes (three types)
> (e) Miscellaneous internal energy changes (e.g. sound, radiation)
>
> What could Arons mean by thermal energy here? I have thought that
> thermal energy could be another name for type (c). Fundamentals of
> Physics seems to hint into this direction in the quotation above.
>
> Molecules have vibrational energy as well. For some reason Arons
> doesn’t include this into his classification. BTW I think that
> Arons’ book might be the best book written on physics education.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> Regards
>
> Antti Savinainen
> Physics teacher
> Kuopio Lyseo High School/IB-section
> Finland