Abstract
The principle of conservation of energy tells us that ‘energy can neither be created nor destroyed but only transformed’. The validity of the principle is without question. The problem is the concept. Contemporary physicists have asserted that we do not know what energy is. We find, however, 19th century physicists, contemporary physicists and historians of science who converge on the point: Mayer and Joule discovered energy. Therefore, we do not know what energy is, but we know these authors discovered it. What did they then discover? What can we learn from this with regard to the energy concept problem? To deal with this issue, I will distinguish between what the authors did experimentally and what they said about the phenomena. This method of analysis makes the difference in relation to historical works on the subject. In a second step, I will consider the introduction of the energy concept, which is from 1850s, and the reification of the energy in 1880s. Finally, I will address the energy conservation principle and the concept of energy conveyed by this principle in contemporary textbooks. As we shall see, the conservation of a magnitude that we call energy nowadays was discovered by Mayer and Joule; an indestructible and transformable entity was not. Adopting the original conservation principle would be enough to avoid the energy concept problem.
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Notes
Indeed, the height is equal to 366 m and not 365 m. In 1845, Mayer took the height equal to 367 m.
'Theory' is understood in a broad sense, i.e., the theoretical construction performed by the author.
Thomson met Joule in 1847. In the following year, he proposed an absolute thermometric scale based on Carnot’s theory (Thomson 1848). In the 1849 paper, he defended Carnot’s principle—the quantity of heat does not change—and argued: there is no experimental proof that heat could be converted into motion (Thomson 1849, pp. 544–545).
Historians of Science usually refer to Young as having used the term 'energy' for the first time in science (Coopersmith 2015, p. 127). In fact, he proposed using the term 'energy' to replace 'vis viva'. The reason for this change was to avoid the use of the term ‘force’ for two distinct magnitudes: living force and quantity of motion (Young 1807, pp. 78–79).
Thomson presents Davy as the founder of the dynamical theory of heat due to his experiment of melting two pieces of ice by rubbing them together (Thomson 1851a, p. 261). (This was not Davy’s point of view (Davy 1839, p. 3)). He also claims that Mayer’s and Joule’s friction experiments would be enough to prove Davy’s point of view. Mayer had, however, pointed out that he did not defend that heat is motion (Mayer 1842, p. 239, 1851, pp. 42–43).
“in our present state of ignorance regarding perfect cold, and the nature of molecular forces, we cannot determine this “total mechanical energy” for any portion of matter” (Thomson 1851b, p. 475).
“Let r be the radius of the wire, i the current along it, α the magnetic intensity at the surface, P the electromotive intensity at any point within the wire, and V the difference of potential between the two ends. Then the area of a length l of the wire is 2 \(\pi\) rl, and the energy entering from the outside per second is \(\frac{areaxE.M.I.xM.I.}{4\pi } = \frac{2\pi rl.P.\alpha }{4\pi } = \frac{2\pi r\alpha .Pl}{4\pi } = \frac{4\pi iV}{4\pi } = iV\) for the line integral of the magnetic intensity 2 \(\pi\) rα round the wire is 4 \(\pi\) x current through it, and Pl=V.
But by ohm's law V=iR and iV=i²R, or the heat developed according to joule's law” (Poynting 1884, pp. 350–351).
“In this case very near the wire, and within it, the lines of magnetic force are circles round the axis of the wire. The lines of electric force are along the wire […] energy is therefore flowing in perpendicularly through the surface, that is, along the radius towards the axis” (Ib., p. 350).
A vector product has as a result a third vector that is perpendicular to the other two. It is this third vector that provides those lines.
“whenever energy is transferred from one place to another at a distance, it is not to be regarded as destroyed at one place and recreated at another, but it is to be regarded as transferred, just as so much matter would have to be transferred” (Lodge 1885, p. 482).
“The energy may be watched at every instant. Its existence is continuous; it possesses identity” (Ib., p. 483).
Scherr et al. (2012) propose to use the metaphor of substance to teach energy. The exception would be in the teaching of quantum mechanics: “In quantum mechanics, energy is not associated with a region of space, and one of the key features of the substance conceptualization of energy is lost. Quantum mechanics presents such a drastic reconceptualization of object permanence that there is no surprise that energy would need to be reconceptualized as well” (Scherr et al. 2012, p. 020144).
Mayer’s ‘force of fall‘ is now called ‘potential energy’; Mayer’s force ‘motion‘ is ‘kinetic energy’; heat, a form of force, became a form of energy.
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Lopes Coelho, R. On the Energy Concept Problem: Experiments and Interpretations. Found Sci 26, 607–624 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10699-020-09675-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10699-020-09675-z