My Top 10 Dangers of Learning Thermodynamics on the 'Net (Mar 2022)

Over the years of teaching Thermo, my students and I have found various pitfalls when hunting for helpful thermo resources online.  There's a lot of good stuff out there too (maybe another top 10 post ), like Chris Cramer's well-planned and presented videos.  I am guilty of trying ideas that didn't work in my classes, or explaining concepts in a way that I regretted later, but in a college class you can fix it in the next class meeting.  But if wonky Thermodynamics is enshrined online,  it just sits there waiting  to cause trouble .   So with that, here are my top 10 dangers of learning thermo online:

10.   Minor misconceptions and thermodynamic slang abound.  For example frictional heating and electrical heating actually start out as frictional work and electrical work.  These and many more small bad habits are fine for experienced folks, but are tough on new learners. 

9.   There are still sources that use E and U interchangeably for the internal energy. 

8.   Fake science videos, which are just plain weird.  The most common is to rig up fake perpetual motion machines that rely on hidden motors.

7.   Closely related, and even weirder, are the conspiracy videos that often feature warped Thermodynamics.  Aliens sipping lattes in their moon base are not hiding great secrets of Thermodynamics.

6.   Everybody has their own blend of classical chemical thermo and stat-mech,  and getting them in the right balance and order for a first experience in chemical Thermodynamics is no small task.   Online sources often assume different amounts of stat-mech and that can throw off new learners.

5.   Thermodynamic standard states are not STP.

4.   Even the pros can get mixed up on system and surroundings, and this can show up online.

3.   Major misconceptions are out there too.  The basis of ice skating, for example,  is one of the most incorrectly taught pieces of physical chemistry out there.  It's neither frictional heating (errm excuse me, frictional work) nor pressure melting, but rather we ice skate because ice has a nanometer thick layer of liquid water.

2.   Queasy with 'quasistatic'.  Some sources really double down on the term 'quasistatic' with fervor, and it only creates confusion.  Reversibility is a clean, robust, and direct way to teach thermo and it lets you assume friction is 0 whenever you feel you need it.  I don't argue the distinction, but I'm not convinced the distinction is useful esp. when first learning Thermo. 

1.   The First Law must be written ΔU = q+w .  Even IUPAC specifies q + w.  Surprisingly many online sources still use q-w .  If you are feeling like thermodynamics is a fire hose at full blast, the last thing you want to find when looking for help is some one suddenly switching signs on you.

• Sorry, not sharing links.  None of us are perfect and I've had my share of goofs and hope to be forgiven for them.  This list is offered in all humility.  So for the 10 people on the internet who might read this, just take it as cautionary tales, nothing more...
  
  

My Top 10 Remote Learning/Instruction Tools (Mar 19 2020)

I love tech and computers, but honestly this has been a humbling wakeup call for me to get in to more technology.  There are an enormous number of tools out there - so this is just what I landed on and it's the tip of the iceberg.  This will change over the semester, but I need to pause and look back .  For reference I'm on Apple OS for a laptop and an iPad.  

10. Email.  Back to basics - we've always used it - how can we use it better?  Still thinking about this one.

9. Quicktime can record - don't forget!

8. Moodle.  I'm not a power user, but it's time to use more of its features.

7. Mediaspace.  'Internal youtube' for managing and storing multimedia content for your courses.  I think they knew faculty would be the end-users because it has a pretty simple interface, but is still pretty powerful.  :-)

6. Youtube and more.   It is hard to plug in some one else's video to your course, but there are valuable options here.  I'm still under-utilizing this, but it will be part of my solution.  A gripe:  in pchem a lot of videos using older sign conventions.

5.Explain Everything (iPad).  Good whiteboarding/recording software for the iPad.  I like the finger controls for resizing and moving things around. Great for recording doing example problems and mini-lectures.

4. Smartphone/ipad for in-lab videos.  How to do labs remotely?  Prop up your iphone/ipad up against something and work away.

3. Zoom Part 1.  If you have the license to get a personal link then you can just have an open zoom meeting for office hours, recitations and more.  Good trial runs so far.  And you can record your sessions.

2.Zoom Part 2.  So Zoom plays nicely with your iPhone or iPad.  I fire up Zoom on the laptop and then share the iPad wirelessly.  So if you have whiteboarding software on the iPad (Explain Everything, etc.) you can now whiteboard over Zoom.

1. OBS.  (link here)  OMG what a lifesaver.  This is recording and/or broadcasting and currently I'm using it to record.  I tried another one (won't name) and it was less powerful and was unstable on iOS.   Huge thx to Henry, my resident tech guru in my home for encouraging me to try this.  Placing multiple windows in one scene looks pretty snazzy.   Powerful, yet easy for beginners - you can be running after watching just 2 or 3 intro videos on youtube.  Easy to put your face video in one corner while doing other things.

• Final thought: there is no one right way - do what works for you.  Borrowing advice I heard recently, don't let perfect be the enemy of good.

The Good Old Days of Chemical Thermodynamics (Feb 4, 2020)

 I've been keenly interested  in how elegant and clear older thermo books can be.  The period around 1920-1960 (or so)  saw many scientists digest the past century's thermodynamic accomplishments in to the modern presentation that we all learn today.   Following up on a promise to share some  of my top choices,  here are my top 10,  skewed rather heavily to what I own.   Virtually every one was generously shared by a colleague or family member. 

Honorable mention:  I just received from a colleague a copy of Frederick Wall's 'Chemical Thermodynamics' (~ 50's and 60's); I really enjoy the hand-drawn illustrations (of which sadly there are too few). 

10. Hugh Taylor's 1924 'Treatise on Physical Chemistry' Vol. 1 does core thermo in one efficient chapter; I feel this is more for folks who know some thermo already. 

9. Edward Obert's 1948  'Thermodynamics' illustrates how older books can do some distinctive things; Obert delves in to reversibility, for example, in a way you don't always see.  

8. I have unfortunately misplaced my copy of H.B. Callen's Thermodynamics (1960); one notable is that it is an early appearance of the thermodynamic square in a pchem text.

7. There are so many pchem texts -where to start?  I have no idea if Hutchinson's (1962) Physical Chemistry was ever widely adopted , nor do I remember how I stumbled in to my copy.  But his 'matter-of-fact' introduction to thermodynamics is a satisfyingly fast journey through classical thermo with some interesting ordering.  It shines with a nice start on definitions and postulates.

6. Moore's Physical Chemistry (~1960-1970) may not be as well known in the US (?) but I think was more known abroad, and indeed I got my copy studying pchem abroad.  His 'start of chapter' quotes are fun.    I admit my own nostalgia in selecting it, but this well-evolved text (5th ed. still worth the $) is thorough, well ordered and clearly written, and I go back to it all the time.

5. A Dover treasure, H.C. Van Ness' 'Understanding Thermodynamics' (1969) is a wonderful set of short essays on core topics in thermo.  Only downside is the old sign convention (q-w), but this is definitely brain candy.

4. Enrico Fermi's Thermodynamics (1936), also a beloved Dover edition, is known by many.  Fermi focused on making the logic of classical thermodynamics more accessible to a wider (but still scientific) audience, and he pulls it off.

3. Francis Sears was involved in several texts/revisions, but I’m lucky to have a copy of his 1952 ‘Thermodynamics, The Kinetic Theory of Gases, and Statistical Mechanics’ which I received from a wonderful Swarthmore alum a while back.  You'll need to mind the q-w convention, but I believe this is among the better writing in thermo in this period. 

2. Planck's 'Treatise on Thermodynamics' (~1926) is no surprise on this list and, you guessed it, also a Dover book. Planck uses the ∆U=q+w notation (yeah!) and as you start to get in to the book, it will feel modern and you'll think it was written much later.   The typesetting will feel only a little dated.  Funny enough, it's like reading Shakespeare -it takes a few pages to get used to the look and the language and then you will be immersed and will forget about the style.  Among other things, he has a nice treatment of van der Waals and real gases that I suspect is emulated today.

1. My top choice was also generously handed down by a colleague.  It is Roscoe Dickinson's rare 1956 self-published "An Outline of Thermodynamics".  At first glance you might be tempted to underestimate it: Dickinson's  soft-bound tome relies solely on a type-writer layout, frequent use of handwritten symbols and dated use of symbols/notation that will challenge the reader.  So how could this be #1?   Well, partly for its rarity, I admit.   But as they say in real estate, these quirks are frankly charming, and I suspect they forced Dickinson to use the pages well.  Creativity flourishes with constraints.  This is an engaging, clear discussion of thermo, with no loss of rigor.  It includes a few interjections of oral lore some with welcome frankness (e.g. "these equations are of little use"...).  So that makes it my #1.

• Obligatory click-bait:  I know my list is woefully inadequate - did I leave off a fave, ignore a seminal tome?  If so don't hesitate to tell me about it.  ;-)  In a little bit I'll do my favorite modern thermo texts....