Heat, Work and Temperature

This short lead-in sets the stage for the whole unit by insisting, before any formula is introduced, that heat and work are both processes of energy transfer, never quantities an object can be said to "contain," and that temperature is the property which decides the direction in which heat spontaneously flows. Confusing these three ideas is the single most common source of error in thermodynamics -- saying "this water has more heat" or "this spring has more work in it" is meaningless, in exactly the same way that saying "it has more raining" instead of "it has more water" would be meaningless. Everything that follows in sections 8.1.2-8.1.4 (the precise meaning of heat, wo …