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Re: A wave or not a wave ?



Again, I think mathematics is too much with us. The unwashed intro
student is asking about the "Newtonian" wave-particle distinction - what
Newton asked about light; what Crookes asked about cathode rays; etc - a
naive distinction about PHYSICAL reality, not about mathematical models:

Is the reality behind this observed phenomenon
1) a transfer of material stuff (ie., mass in the pre-relativity,
pre-quantum mechanical - ie., Newtonian - sense) from place to place, or
2) the propagation of changes in the properties of a space-filling medium?

In the modern post-Newtonian world, this is not a usefully definable
distinction.

P.S. The question of how we should restrict the appellation "wave" to
certain mathematical functions seems of little or no use to me.

Bob

Bob Sciamanda (W3NLV)
Physics, Edinboro Univ of PA (em)
trebor@velocity.net
http://www.velocity.net/~trebor