Now that you have presented many suggestions for naming "g", what
improvement would you offer for introducing the concept of force? Most of my
students are high school sophomores whose earlier physical science texts, as
well as many physics texts, describe force as a "push or a pull." Follow
that with a discussion of the four fundamental forces (and the fifth: duct
tape) and you have confusion. A strong nuclear "push or pull"? And, the
students want to know, which of the four fundamental forces is involved when
I "force" a stalled car?
When first introducing force, I prefer the causal approach: if you want to
know what something is, see what it does. But that too is inadequate. I
would appreciate your suggestions.
Rosaline Secrest
Terre Haute South High School
Terre Haute, Indiana