Document Type
Article
Version Deposited
Published Version
Publication Date
9-23-2015
Publication Title
Physical Review Special Topics: Physics Education Research
DOI
http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.11.020116
Abstract
We report on several specific student difficulties regarding the second law of thermodynamics in the context of heat engines within upper-division undergraduate thermal physics courses. Data come from ungraded written surveys, graded homework assignments, and videotaped classroom observations of tutorial activities. Written data show that students in these courses do not clearly articulate the connection between the Carnot cycle and the second law after lecture instruction. This result is consistent both within and across student populations. Observation data provide evidence for myriad difficulties related to entropy and heat engines, including students’ struggles in reasoning about situations that are physically impossible and failures to differentiate between differential and net changes of state properties of a system. Results herein may be seen as the application of previously documented difficulties in the context of heat engines, but others are novel and emphasize the subtle and complex nature of cyclic processes and heat engines, which are central to the teaching and learning of thermodynamics and its applications. Moreover, the sophistication of these difficulties is indicative of the more advanced thinking required of students at the upper division, whose developing knowledge and understanding give rise to questions and struggles that are inaccessible to novices.
Recommended Citation
Smith, T., Christensen, W., Mountcastle, D., & Thompson, J. (2015). Identifying student difficulties with entropy, heat engines, and the carnot cycle. Physical Review Special Topics-Physics Education Research, 11(2), 020116.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Comments
This article is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.
Journal citation: Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 11, 020116