Imprecisely, as I said. Yes, Isaac Newton was keen on the concept of
energy as it related to momentum. James Watt, another Englishmen, of
later times, worked on improving the Newcomen steam engine to work at
higher power levels, as indicated by the rate at which water could be
pumped. James Joule laid the basis for developing the work-energy
theorem of thermodynamics by demonstrating the mechanical equivalent of
heat. William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) did much to develope the
mathematical theory of thermodynamics. Michael Faraday worked in
electromagnetic theory development (e.g., "Faraday's law") and Louis
Gray worked in radiation physics.
John Dalton worked in chemistry and I have actually read his _A New
System of Chemical Philosophy_ -- in its first edition! (It was casually
mingled with the regular stacks in the Chemistry Library at Michigan
State University while I studied there.) Dalton was also a grammarian
and a meteorologist! He maintained a meteorological journal comprising
roughly 200 000 entries and published a book on the basis of that. Much
of the collection of his works, stored in Manchester, was destroyed in
the bombing of that city in World War II.
Though I have been to Manchester I did not visit City Hall and so did
not see those statues. Had I known they were there, I would have visited
them. But I have stood at the grave of Isaac Newton and have read Pope's
words there.
Yes, the Brits have a long, noble history of giants in the scientific
fields. Hopefully I have given no offense to anyone by making light of
it in my remarks, which were meant only to be silly. If I did, then I
apologize.
Jim
Martin Vlietstra wrote:
No, we would trace it back to James Joule who, along with Sir Isaac Newton,
James Watt, Michael Faraday, Lord Kelvin and Louis Gray are the six Brits
who gave their names to SI units - more than any other nation. We can also
add Dalton's name to that list, as the Dalton is now the BIPM-approved
replacement for the amu.
BTW, if you go into the Manchester City Hall, you will see two statues of
natives of that city in the foyer - Joule and Dalton.
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf
Of James R. Frysinger
Sent: 07 June 2010 19:33
To: U.S. Metric Association
Cc: U.S. Metric Association
Subject: [USMA:47544] Re: One unit only
The term "power" meaning rate of energy transfer (incl. "generation",
"usage", etc.) likely did not become important until the Industrial
Revolution. The Brits probably would trace the term back to Isaac
Wattever his name is.
Jim
Pat Naughtin wrote:
Thanks Phil,
I am aware that Isaac Newton had a concept of the difference between
energy and power, but from my reading of his work he did not have the
words to express this clearly. That's why I think that the distinction
(between energy and power) did not become clear until about 1800.
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
Author of the ebook, /Metrication Leaders Guide,/ that you can obtain
from http://metricationmatters.com/MetricationLeadersGuideInfo.html
PO Box 305 Belmont 3216,
Geelong, Australia
Phone: 61 3 5241 2008
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On 2010/06/07, at 20:49 , Phil Hall wrote:
Dear Pat
Re:
As far as I know power and energy were clearly distinguished as two
quite separate and distinct physical realities late in the 1700s or
early in the 1800s (I would like to have an exact date but this is
the best I can do at present).
I am inclined to think that it must go back a bit earlier than that,
at least to a point where the principal of conservation of energy or
momentum was established. Isaac Newton effectively did that in his
third law of motion (popularly known as "action and reaction are equal
and opposite") in 1687. In that context power is a measure of the rate
at which energy is converted from one form to another.
I may be wrong but I find it hard to imagine Newton and his
contemporaries not having some idea that energy is a quantifiable
property of matter according to its state (Einstein later showed that
matter and energy are interchangeable) and the concept of power as we
now know it.
--
James R. Frysinger
632 Stony Point Mountain Road
Doyle, TN 38559-3030
(C) 931.212.0267
(H) 931.657.3107
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