Conservation and Innovation : Helmholtz's Struggle with Energy ...
Conservation and Innovation : Helmholtz's Struggle with Energy ...
Conservation and Innovation : Helmholtz's Struggle with Energy ...
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had already been achieved in the Bericht. What is new <strong>and</strong> specific of the<br />
Erhaltung is the application of the theoretical framework of tension <strong>and</strong> living<br />
forces to the mechanical theory of heat. This again is done in a purely conceptual<br />
<strong>and</strong> qualitative way, <strong>with</strong>out mathematical formulation: free heat will now be<br />
interpreted as the quantity of living force of thermal movement <strong>and</strong> latent heat as<br />
the quantity of tension forces, namely elastic forces of atoms. Helmholtz quoted<br />
Ampère while making an attempt at clarifying the atomistic view of nature <strong>and</strong><br />
the way in which atomic movements can explain radiation <strong>and</strong> conduction. But<br />
the whole subject is highly speculative <strong>and</strong> Helmholtz is satisfied <strong>with</strong> "the<br />
possibility that thermal phenomena be conceived as motions" 174. In fact in this<br />
case the conservation of force "could be verified" whenever conservation of<br />
caloric substance was supposed to hold.<br />
In my view, <strong>Helmholtz's</strong> cautiousness is completely justified. It is not due to a<br />
lack of conceptual clarity, but to the awareness of the lack of empirical<br />
corroboration. In my opinion, the doubt raised by Helm whether, at this point of<br />
the Erhaltung , Helmholtz was still "uncertain <strong>and</strong> vacillating" on the validity of<br />
the impossibility of the perpetuum mobile outside mechanics 175 is to be rejected.<br />
Despite being qualitative, <strong>Helmholtz's</strong> conceptual scheme is wide- ranging. To<br />
explicitly conceive atoms as possessing not only living forces but also tension<br />
forces is a bold step forward <strong>and</strong> the analogy <strong>with</strong> free <strong>and</strong> latent heat seems very<br />
well defined. It allowed in fact an easy reinterpretation of previous knowledge in<br />
the new terms.<br />
The reinterpretation of the heat produced in chemical processes follows: Hesse's<br />
law "partially verified also by experience" had been deduced from the caloric<br />
theory. It asserts that "the heat developed in the production of a chemical<br />
compound is independent of the order <strong>and</strong> the intermediate steps of the<br />
process" 176. The law, as shown in the "Bericht", is in agreement <strong>with</strong> the forceequivalent<br />
hypothesis (correlation principle), but here Helmholtz showed that it<br />
can be interpreted in terms of the new concepts of living <strong>and</strong> tension forces: the<br />
heat produced is now considered a living force, generated by the chemical forces<br />
174 Helmholtz Erhaltung P.31.<br />
175 Helm hinted that <strong>Helmholtz's</strong> cautiousness in the application of his second root<br />
(central forces <strong>and</strong> mechanical hypothesis) to thermal phenomena implies that he had doubts<br />
on the first one (impossibility of perpetual motion) as well, <strong>and</strong> thus on the whole conservation<br />
problem. G.Helm Energetik P.44<br />
176 Helmholtz Erhaltung P.32.