Spatial Concept Perspectives

Although the concepts of energy, entropy, force, heat, etc. are abstract statements, the manifestations and representations of energy related concepts are visual, very often in analogies; e.g., a Feynman diagram, 'higher' and 'lower' energies in quantum levels, a Carnot cycle, or the printout from a spectrometerare indirect visualizations of energy. Usually diagrams represent higher energy values toward the top in an unconscious analogy with the Earth's gravitational field.

A general gestalt structure for force: First, force is always experienced through interaction...Second, our experience of force usually involves the movement of some object (mass) through space in some direction. In other words, force has a vector quality, a directionality...Third, there is typically a single path of motion...Fourth, forces have origins or sources, and because they are directional, agents can direct them to targets...Fifth, forces have degrees of power or intensity.