Exploring Student and Expert Understanding of Thermodynamic Potentials, Legendre Transformations, and Independent Variables in Thermodynamics

Graduate Thesis Or Dissertation

Public Deposited

Citeable URL: https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/3197xs527

Descriptions

Attribute Name	Values
Creator	Vignal, Michael
Abstract	Thermodynamic potentials are energies that can describe a thermodynamic system in terms of different mathematically independent variables. Some of these potentials describe particular thermodynamic systems or processes in particularly convenient ways. In this dissertation, I discuss the different ways that students and experts reason about quantities in thermodynamics within the context of thermodynamic potentials. I find that selecting a thermodynamic potential by attending to its mathematically independent variables is (1) challenging for students and (2) not how experts select a thermodynamic potential. Experts instead attend to what quantities they control and how quantities change. I incorporate these findings in an instructional activity that teaches about such potentials to students.
License	All rights reserved
Resource Type	Dissertation
Date Issued	2019-05-31
Degree Level	Doctoral
Degree Name	Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
Degree Field	Physics
Degree Grantor	Oregon State University
Commencement Year	2019
Advisor	Gire, Elizabeth E.
Committee Member	Osei-Kofi, Nana Manogue, Corinne de Szoeke, Simon Jansen, Henri Roundy, David
Academic Affiliation	Physics
Rights Statement	In Copyright
Publisher	Oregon State University
Peer Reviewed	No
Language	English [eng]

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