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Practising Helps: Thermodynamics, History, and Experiment

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Abstract

Teaching undergraduate students thermodynamics is quite often reduced to a mere mathematical treatment of Gedankenexperimente based on the two abstract fundamental postulates of thermodynamics. In a course given at the University of Oldenburg we attempt to remedy the deficiencies of such courses. Our aims are twofold: First we try to take the historical context into consideration in order to illustrate the importance of the socio-economical development for the scientific progress. Secondly, we include experimental work into the course. Here, we use replications of past experiments. In this paper I will describe the course and compare it, firstly, with two ``classical'' approaches represented by the textbooks of H.B. Callen and F. Reif; secondly, I will point out the advantages the use of replications have compared to ``modern adaptions''.

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Sichau, C. Practising Helps: Thermodynamics, History, and Experiment. Science & Education 9, 389–398 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008617807121

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008617807121

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