The Most Interesting Energy Theater in the World

Context: These groups are planning and performing energy theater to represent a diver compressing a box of air. There is intense discussion of the definitions of and relationships among temperature, thermal energy, and kinetic energy. Brad takes on some of Stamatis' language to ask "how we know" there is thermal energy or kinetic energy in the box. Julie seems to catalyze an "a-ha" moment for several other members of the group by suggesting that kinetic energy is a property of individual gas molecules while thermal energy is a property of the gas as a whole.

Comment: It was very hard for me to choose a short clip from this 35 minute energy theater. What I ended up doing was synching up my field notes with the longer clip, which is saved as a separate episode on the server ("Thermal Energy Theater".) Anyone interested in thermal/kinetic issues, gestures, negotiation, or really transparent learning will find something to like in the longer clip. Highly recommended. :)

Transcript/Field Notes of entire 35-min energy theater (short clip above begins at about 10:30 of the longer clip)

[00:00:15.11]Steve: Because the size of the box changes, we are compressing the air so the air is now running into itself much more often. [00:00:26.20]It's a little more complicated than just adding some kinetic energy; we're not just thumping a few of the molecules...
[00:00:34.03]Wendy: Well, kinetic turns into thermal...

[00:00:49.01]Julie: The moving purple ball is transforming into heat...I guess it would have to be kinetic and thermal
[00:01:20.04]Steve: We have some heat energy that we're starting off with. They're definitely moving, they're above absolute zero.
[00:01:36.18]Julie: (referring to Don and Allie slapping their hands together, which they first said represented pressure) Maybe this is heat? It has to be elastic.
[00:01:51.03]Steve: The fact that they're hitting each other, the fact that they're moving, is the very definition of heat, of temperature.
[00:01:58.00]They are moving, therefore they have temperature
[00:02:04.05]Don: They're moving faster, therefore they have more thermal energy.
[00:02:47.18] Debra What's changing is the increasing bouncing, so that's the only other thing that's changing, we're not adding any energy...
[00:03:00.13]Julie: It's almost like that's teh first domino
[00:03:03.07]DEbra: There's no heat added, there's no cold added...There's nothing else going on except the volume decreases
[00:03:10.28]Steve: And the wall is moving towards us; there is some kinetic energy coming into the system
[00:03:30.13]Wendy: When we push that wall, that adds the kinetic energy, which is then manifasted as heat, temperature
[00:03:42.13]Allie: (rubs hands together)
[00:03:47.21]Wendy: We're acknowledging that there's kinetic that transfers to kinetic, because the whole body of gas moves
[00:04:07.04] and then the result is that goes to thermal
[00:04:13.27]This is that whole/part conversation
[00:04:30.12] The gas as a whole increases its kinetic energy when it's pushed, but then it doesn't increase it any more
[00:04:41.00] Allie: We have kinetic energy entering, but then it turns into something else (rubs hands together)
[00:05:07.12]Sid: The speed of the molecules is constant...and that's temperature?
[00:05:24.06]When we squish the box, the temperature goes up. So the speed of those molecules has changed
[00:05:37.02]But then once the box stops squeezing, they stay the same speed.
[00:05:47.22] Where is the energy coming from?
[00:05:52.29] Is that box losing heat...energy...?
[00:06:18.01] is the heat energy the same as the kinetic energy?
That's the question! people say
[00:06:30.23] Steve: I'm gonna change what I said earlier. Just the wall moving...but I'm gonna change that. i think it really is providing all the heat energy. that's the only source of energy.
sid: It's giving more kinetic energy to the molecules
[00:07:21.14] at the same time, temp is going up, which i'm hearing people say is an increase in heat energy. [00:07:52.12]did i increase in size kinetically?
[00:08:05.23]allie: scuba steve uses his muscles...
[00:08:16.14]brad: can i ask a question? is there thermal energy in the box right now? how do we know that?
[00:08:28.17]steve: you can see the motion
[00:08:34.18]brad: how do you know there's thermal energyFLAG imperceptibility of thermal energy
[00:08:37.04]don: it has temperature. we can measure it.
[00:08:40.24]sid: that's my question, is kinetic and thermal the same?
[00:10:16.11]julie--i don't think it's the hand--i think something is happening internally, inside here that results in hotness, increased something-ness
[00:10:46.13]1035 BRad--the indicator for KE and thermal is the same...Why is there the same answer for two different questions?
[00:11:30.01]but Brad thinks the distinction between single and group--[00:12:02.08] Stam said we need to go all big or all small but don't intermix.
[00:12:52.29]Julie THE INDIVIDUAL MOLECULES HAS KE BUT THE GAS AS A WHOLE HAS THERMAL
[00:13:10.24]--Wendy says HUGE!! Sid says I have to write this down.
[00:14:37.22]If there's no man, the box will stay the same size. (Still wokring on Julie's question from 1034.)
[00:15:02.03]Brad--debra wanted to do beginnign and end--but they're the same. ha.
[00:16:57.13]wendy: i know the box goes up in temperature but does the little ball go up in temperature? FLAG HEAT, PART VS WHOLE
the temperature relates to the collisions
[00:20:09.00]Steve goes through the simulation again on the proejector. [00:20:30.06]People say "You can see it! The wave of energy!"
[00:20:50.20]What if the closeness matters? No, I think it's the collisions.
[00:20:58.16]Wendy: I think it's the collisions (FLAG Jesper, collisions vs. KE of particles with temp--this whole ET should be flagged for that)
[00:23:57.11]Allie: As far as energy theater goes, temperature is not energy
[00:24:13.22]I think that's a red herring.
[00:24:22.28] the momentum of the particle... wendy: don't say momentum  [00:24:33.17]Steve: it's kinetic energy is the thermal energy. i think at a particle levle they're the same thing.
[00:25:40.04]Julie As the space between particles decreases, waste is decreased?
FLAG THERMAL ENERGY LOSS
heat loss. decreasing amount of lost heat
[00:25:59.12] rachel: you're (julie) saying when particles collide, thermal energy is lost. that's different than someone else, who said that a single particle doesn't have thermal energy.  you are proposing another scenario--two purple balls colliding HOLY COW-  THIS IS INTERESTING !!!yes it is.
1052 rachel is drawing a diagram on the board--dude, wall, all the gas in the tank for one scenario; dude, wall, one blue ball in another
1054 Sid suggests it coudl be constant K--t--K--t back and forth
debra: lets break into two groups and do the cubes for big and small
I think the question is whether thermal energy is a form of kinetic energy OR it is a warmth unrelated to the kinetic
10:56 Negotiation of different scenarios
Rachel draws three different options on the board - the group is going to split up and discuss different things.
aren't we in agreement on the blue? rachel--i would say you haven't done it so you don't know. debra--ok let's do it.
10:58 Debra suggests that they do the ET on the Blue option and then negotiate the red scenario upon completion of the the ET
1058 guess what--they don't agree. :) (miscommunication) - FLAG _ JUST TELL ME WHAT TO DO. (LIKE JEAN--feels different to me though. Jean was just frustrated and felt clueless. I think Julie does have an idea, but she sees that her idea is getting in the way of understanding someone else's idea.) True - but might be interesting to contrast the two interactions! totes.