Scheme for Thermo.

[meltsner%athena@mit-eddie.MIT.EDU]

This is both a request and an announcement:

I have been working on a "microworld" for thermodynamics.  The world
would support common thermodynamic objects like gases and solids, and would
allow objects to be interconnected, and equilibriums found with a variety
of constraints on mass, energy, volume, etc. transfer.  ("would" because
not all features have been implemented)

It has proved to be useful in an introductory (graduate) level thermo course,
and I am currently planning to rewrite it to remedy a number of deficiencies.

Questions:

1)  Would you prefer an english-language (command-driven) interface or a
windowed one?  Does "make an gas with 10 moles of neon temperature 298" make
more sense than a dialog box after one has selected a menu item "Make Gas"?

2)  Are windowed graphics useful?  What sort of graphics?(x-time, x-y, contour,
dials, gauges, empty/full bar indicators)

3)  Would you sacrifice speed for numeric accuracy? (1% accuracy vs. .01% might
triple the iteration time)

4)  How important are on-line help, explanations of internal processes,
examples?

5)  What would you like to have it run on?  (4.2 Unix, Macintosh, IBM, ??)

6)  What would it have to run on to be useful for use in a class at your
institution?

The program is currently written in T, and will be moved to Cscheme (MIT
Vax 4.2 Unix Scheme in C).

The program is available for trade or (in a few months) for a nominal
fee from our group at MIT.  Planned expansions include the ability to
change thermodynamic state variables, a thermo methods database
(rule-driven thermo), and a clock for kinetic problems.

Please send all answers and questions to:

meltsner@athena.MIT.EDU

or Ken Meltsner
   MIT Room 13-5142
   Cambridge, MA 02139         617-253-3139


				Ken