thermotics

English edit

Etymology edit

Coined by William Whewell, 1831, along with photistics. See thermo-.

Noun edit

thermotics (uncountable)

(archaic) The branch of physics that deals with the science of heat.
- 1837, William Whewell, History of the Inductive Sciences, p.465, London: J.W. Parker, 1837.
  I employ the term Thermotics, to include all the doctrines respecting heat, which have hitherto been established on proper scientific grounds.
- 1895, James W. Steele, Steam Steel and Electricity, Kessinger Publishing, published 2004, →ISBN, page 59:
  Electricity seems destined to annex the whole field, not merely of optics, but probably also of thermotics.
- 2010, Pascal Le Masson, Benoît Weil, Armand Hatchuel, Stategic Management of Innovation and Design, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 62:
  Today, a large amount of scientific knowledge must be produced to design new products, not only in sectors such as pharmaceuticals but also in aeronautics and in seemingly more traditional disciplines such as thermotics.
(archaic) thermodynamics

Usage notes edit

Etymologically, thermotics bears the same relationship to thermodynamics as mechanics bears to dynamics (compare statics), or that hydraulics bears to hydrodynamics (compare hydrostatics). However, thermodynamics is the more usual term in modern usage.