Re: ENERGY WITH Q PLEASE VOTE

["John S. Denker" <jsd@MONMOUTH.COM>]

Larry Smith wrote:

> I don't necessarily think physics can be decided by democratic vote but
>   maybe definitions and conventions can (over time)

I  agree with both parts of that.

> How many think 1) heat is energy transfer due to temperature difference?

I vote against that, for reasons given in
  http://www.monmouth.com/~jsd/physics/thermo-laws.htm#sec-eschew-w+q

> How many vote for 2) heat is internal energy or thermal energy?

Heat, when used as a noun, refers to thermal energy.  That is _not_ the same
as internal energy.  An object can have all sorts of nonthermal internal
energy.

> How many vote for 3) heat is not a noun?

Not me.  Heat is a noun.  Always has been.

>  is it worth the trouble to change the freshman textbooks?  My opinion is
> that yes,

I agree that it would be good to make whatever changes are necessary so that
textbooks reflect real-world usage.  Heat is used as a noun, in the technical
sense, by almost everyone.  That includes blue-collar HVAC contractors, and
professional physicists who have won an all-expense-paid trip to Sweden for
their discoveries which hinged on building thermodynamical apparatus and
making thermodynamical observations.
  http://www.nobel.se/physics/laureates/1996/

> it is worth the 100-year effort it will take to reform our usage if it is in
> some sense
> more correct or pedagogically preferable.

This will not take 100 years.  Heat has been used as a noun, in the modern
technical sense, for about 200 years without interruption.  The attempt to
make it not a noun is quite recent and never succeeded.

The folks who publish (and publish in) The Physical Review don't have a
problem with using heat as a noun.  The query
  http://www.google.com/search?q=heat+site%3Aaps.org
returns 4600 hits.  Take a look.  Count their votes.