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RE: Gedankening



Hi all-
Joel Rauber writes:

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Hey Gang,
a new thread for discussion; I'll try to start it by being a lightening rod!

I rather like Gedankening myself and consider it indispensable. I believe
Newton's first law came from Gedankening; didn't he have to imagine what
would be the case if you were able to remove all resistive forces, "make the
friction on the hockey puck less and less by better polishing the surface
upon which it slides".

Actually this is precisely the tension present in any beginning introductory
class; basic principles vs the "real world". Is it better to discuss
situations in a Gedanken sort of way, where you've removed "real world"
complications from the disucussion; in order to bring out the basic
principles clearly and unambigously. Or is it better to talk about the
"real world" with all its complications?

Joel
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Sorry, Joel, but I don't agree with your characterization of
Newton's first law (N1). I think that the real meaning of N1 is
"there exist inertial frames". That is not a proposition that can be
demonstrated by experiment, because it is a definition.
You could sharpen the discussion by picking a different example.

Regards,
Jack