On 07 Oct 1997 11:26:18 EDT Tom (twayburn@juno.com) added a phrase:
.... to avoid the N word. Regards / Tom
Avoiding the N-word is not easier than avoiding the Q-word. How can we
teach electricity to non-science majors without using the old magnetic
poles idea? Why should we try? What kind of harm can result from saying
that "in the first approximation a bar magnet, or a planet, behaves as
if ..."?
Yes, I do know that magnetism can be presented without introducing the
N-word. And that the concept of magnetic field can also be eliminated
beacuse B can be viewed a relativistic manifestation of E. The "great
womanizers", from a parallel thread, would say that physics becomes
simplier when the unnecessary concepts are eliminated. But what is
simplier for them is not always simplier for me, or for my students.
Simplifications often make things more difficult. Try to explain a
primitive dc motor without using the N, S and B words.
Ludwik Kowalski