Categories: Alternative conceptions
An example of an historical alternative conception: an idea once widely taken seriously by scientists but now dismissed:
"…most scientists believed that heat was an invisible substance called caloric, made up of tiny, weightless particles released from within burning substances. These caloric particles, it was supposed, repelled one another, and this was why heat tended to spread from hot to cold, equalising temperature differences. As the particles of caloric pushed away from one another, they seeped through the tiny pores that were believed to exist in all materials, diffusing through them and thus making them hotter."
Paul Sen (2022) Einstein's Fridge. The science of fire, ice and the universe. William Collins.
