The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time or What Lessons Lurk in Old Textbooks

TCE

The Chemical Educator

ISSN: 1430-4171 (electronic version)

Table of Contents

Abstract Volume 1 Issue 4 (1996), S1430-4171(96)04049-6

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time or What Lessons Lurk in Old Textbooks

Stephen J. Weininger

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA 01609-2280

Published online: 30 September1996

Abstract. This article examines the early presentation of the Second Law of Thermodynamics in physical chemistry text books published between 1900 and 1925. It explains how the concept of entropy emerged from obscurity to become a familiar idea and describes how analyzing the history of the development of scientific concepts can uncover hidden "lessons" about how ideas are formulated, digested, and finally accepted.

Key Words: Chemistry and History; history; entropy; second law; thermodynamics

(*) Corresponding author. (E-mail: stevejw@wpi.edu)

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