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Re: [Phys-l] "Flow"



At 03:34 PM 5/20/2006, you wrote:
I have some difficulty with this entire thread:

>The Earth does work on the weights as they fall.
>The weights do work on the strings.
>The strings do work on the paddle wheel.
>The paddle wheel does work on the water molecules.
>The average KE of the water molecules increases.
>The temperature of the water increases.

How does the above avoid "reification"? It seems to me the above merely reifies "work" instead of "heat" or "momentum" or "energy" ... albeit the close juxtaposition of the verb "to do" with the noun "work" obfuscates the reification. Just asking ...

Good point. How do others feel about this?

Is the "work" reified in the same way as is momentum etc in other posts?

My worries would be better addressed if list members would read "The First Law" on my web page. But that would be perhaps too much time/effort to ask. The point there is that I show that there is "nothing" moving across the boundaries of a common Carnot cylinder during various forms of heating therefore there is no such thing/noun as "heat." But now we have the reifiers who want to have energy move/flow across the boundaries -- then call that energy flow "heat."

How do I show/prove that heat is not a noun?

Jim



J M Green
Email: MailTo:JMGreen@sisna.com
WWW: HTTP://users.sisna.com/JMGreen