Boltzman's heuristics and the emergence of the mechanical-statistical program

O objetivo deste trabalho é investigar a construção de uma abordagem estatística como recurso heurístico de compreensão das relações entre mecânica e termodinâmica no interior do programa de pesquisa de Ludwig Boltzmann (1844-1906). Neste contexto, a função de distribuição das velocidades moleculares de J.C. Maxwell (1831-79), acerca da qual Boltzmann fará diferentes leituras, desempenhar a um papel central na medida em que e a partir dela que novos instrumentos heurístico surgirão, tais como os conceitos de \ensemble estatístico" e \probabilidade de estado", que representam um esforço conceitual no sentido de associar aos estados do fenômeno sob análise a probabilidade da sua realização.The purpose of this paper is to investigate the construction of a statistical approach as a heuristic tool to understand the relations between mechanics and thermodynamics inside Ludwig Boltzmann’s (1844-1906) re- search program. In this context, J.C Maxwell’s (1831-79) distribution function of molecular velocities, which Boltzmann interpreted in different ways, will have a central role for being the source of new heuristic tools, such as the \statistical ensemble" and the \probability of state". These represent a conceptual effort as they associate the probability of its realization to the state of the phenomenon under analysis

The construction of a theory of ensemble : precedents in Maxwell and Boltzmann

O objetivo deste artigo é investigar no trabalho de James C. Maxwell (1831-79) e Ludwig Boltzmann (1844- 1906) as bases da construção daquilo que modernamente, após Willard Gibbs (1839-1903), ficou conhecido como uma teoria de ensembles, uma abordagem metodológica que alimentou a busca por uma fundamentação estatística para as leis da termodinâmica.The purpose of this paper is to research the bases of the construction in James C. Maxwell (1831-79) and Ludwig Boltzmann’s (1844-1906) work of what is now known as the theory of ensembles, after Willard Gibbs (1893-1903). It is a methodological perspective that stimulated the search for a statistical ground for the laws of thermodynamics

Historical experiments simulations in physics education: a computational approach of the historical and empirical dimensions of science in classroom

Neste trabalho propomos a utilização de simulações computacionais de experimentos históricos no ensino de física como estratégia de resgate e articulação das dimensões histórica e empírica da física na sala de aula. Como exemplo, apresentamos uma classe de simulação computacional didática, caracterizada aqui como Simulação Didática Interativa (SDI), utilizando o software Modellus para apresentar a experiência do plano inclinado proposta por Galileu Galilei(1564-1642) em sua obra Discursos e Demonstrações Matemáticas em Torno de Duas Novas Ciências (1638), onde a lei da queda dos corpos é investigada.In this paper we propose the use of computer simulations of historical experiments in physics education as a strategy to recover and articulate the historical and empirical dimensions of scientific knowledge in the classroom. Particularly, we present a Didactic Interactive Simulation (DIS) using the software Modellus to rescue the experiment of the inclined plane described by Galileo Galilei in his work Discourse and Mathematical Demonstrations Concerning Two New Sciences (1638), in which he investigates the law of falling bodies

Duhem’s Critical Analysis of Mechanicism and his Defense of a Formal Conception of Theoretical Physics

The aim of this paper is to present Duhem’s critical view of the dynamical development of mechanics according to two principles of his theory of the development of physics: the continuous and the rational development of physics. These two principles impose a formal conception of physics that aims at demarcating physics from the metaphysical view on the one hand and the pragmatist/conventionalist view on the other hand. Duhem pursues an intermediary conception of physics, a representational system of empirical laws based upon formal principles. This formal conception of physics will adjust to his idea of scientific progress in the form of a sequence of representational systems as structures of increasing comprehensiveness of empirical laws, which leads him to defend a convergent structural realism pointing to an ideal physical theory