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Re: Experimental verification of the relativity theory



| In 1824, Carnot published essentially
| the following argument:
| Heat is an indestructible substance (calorique).
| Perpetuum mobile (of the first kind) is impossible.
| Therefore, all reversible machines working between two given
temperatures
| have the SAME efficiency. . . .- Pentcho

Although heat as an indestructible substance was part of the "caloric
fluid theory", it is not crucial to the referenced Carnot argument. The
argument only requires that when caloric fluid is exchanged between two
bodies (otherwise isolated) by conduction, the amount of caloric is
conserved.
If you drop the "indestructible substance" premiss, the caloric theory
goes a long way as a predictive model. "Heat" as an exchangeable and
convertible fluid can be a useful pictorial/calculational model (if you
can stand the slings and arrows from calorphobists).

Bob Sciamanda (W3NLV)
Physics, Edinboro Univ of PA (em)
trebor@velocity.net
http://www.velocity.net/~trebor


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