Re: force

["Roger A. Pruitt" <phrp@fhsuvm.fhsu.edu>]

RSecrest@aol.com wrote:
> 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?

What does "I 'force' a stalled car" mean? That's a new expression on me. Has 
American English become so corrupted that we can speak so that no one 
understands us?


> 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


Roger