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Before we reopen the 'what is weight' debate--I suspect Mark to be in the
'what the scale measures' camp and not the 'gravitational force due to the
earth' camp--let me just comment that the exam question points to the
problem of 'going one's own way' on these issues.
Certainly students taught
that weight is what the scale reads (you really are weightless in orbit)
will be at a disadvantage on this question (although there is no other
'better' choice than B, even from this viewpoint).
The 'standard
curriculum' is pretty much set by the consensus found in the popular texts.
While individual texts certainly have errors, the disagreement (often seen
on this list) with certain common approaches and/or 'facts' found in these
texts usually fall into the 'well that's a different interpretation'
category. The interpretation is not necessarily wrong (and neither is the
text-book approach) but if one's students are expected to take
'standardized' tests, one should be wary about teaching 'outside' the
mainstream curriculum.