Talk:Caloric theory

Significance in the philosophy of science
I would like to remove this section of the article because it seems to be based solely on a reference in Changs paper to Lauden. In Laudens paper however, the caloric theory is only part of a list of many examples (he even concludes his list with "This list, which could be be extended ad nauseam..." (his italics)). Because of that, and because in the actual article on scientific realism caloric theory isn't mentioned, I feel that this section doesn't belong in an article about the history of caloric theory. Any thoughts on this? --Wijnand 09:46, 19 April 2006 (UTC)


 * Agree I think that the best thing would be to move the text wholesale to scientific realism and maintain the link then leave it to a wp:cleanup in that article. Cutler 18:11, 19 April 2006 (UTC)


 * I've moved the section to scientific realism and added a cleanup tag. -- Wijnand 08:53, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

Pulse equation?
What is the "Sir Isaac Newton’s pulse equation" cited in the text? I don't know and it's not easy to find very much on the web about the "pulse equation". Maybe there are different names for this equation that are more used?--Pokipsy76 16:28, 3 June 2006 (UTC)


 * I'm puzzled too and posted the question on Talk:Isaac Newton but to no avail. It does seem such an obscure term but I'm sure, from context, that it is refering to the speed of sound in a gas. Cutler 19:18, 3 June 2006 (UTC)


 * I don't know either, but agree with Cutler based on the context. Wijnand 10:49, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

Incorrect definition of heat?
This article concludes: In this way, the caloric theory was absorbed into the annals of physics, and evolved into modern thermodynamics, in which heat is the kinetic energy of molecules. To my limited understanding this is an incorrect statement and in direct contrast with the article on heat within Wikipedia. Temperature is the kinetic energy of molecules, heat refers to a thermal energy transfer that can be kinetic, but it can also be caused by other phenomena such as radiation. Could someone with grater experts in this field pleas clarify this to me and amend the concluding paragraph of the main article if need be.

Thank you

Chopo

Very incorrect definition of heat
Heat is energy transfer, it should not be confused with internal energy, or a part of it. Heat is not a state function of the system, it is process dependent. Somebody should fix that definition. Because as it is, it's still tied to the caloric theory.

Terrible section under "Successes"
I've removed a section from "Successes" that is poorly written, has incorrect science, and most importantly, is not an extension of caloric theory and therefore cannot be considered a success:

Original caloric theory worked with an image of a continuous fluid. In quantum mechanical context, some aspects of discreteness extend the picture, for example, in the study of crystals in modern solid-state physics. Lattice vibrations of crystals, which are formally equivalent (but not identical) to some thermal energy, are quantized, and consequently have wave-particle duality. The particle representation of a lattice vibration is called a phonon, by analogy with the photon. Note that the concepts of heat and mechanical vibration, which are often confused due to their similarity, show fundamental differences in spectroscopy and other physical phenomena.

^^

While lattice vibrations of crystals are certianly related to heat, they are not quantized, they do *not* exhibit wave-particle duality, they are not analogous to photons in any sense at all, and the remainder of this section is non-pedagogical.

— Preceding unsigned comment added by 18.239.5.169 (talk) 07:12, 27 August 2012 (UTC)