Re: key concepts in physics ???

[Leigh Palmer <palmer@SFU.CA>]

At 11:23 AM -0700 10/16/00, Chuck Britton wrote:

> And *I* must continue to (respectfully) disagree with Leigh on this.
> I think that people SHOULD 'get to see' the Hope Diamond and other
> such gems as often as possible and at as early an age as possible. A
> cat IS allowed to look at the queen! (for those in the UK).

Good example, Chuck. I saw the Hope diamond (I think I did - isn't it
in the Smithsonian?). I don't remember what it looked like, except
that it was big, at least for a diamond. That's about the depth of
retention and understanding I expect for naive students who are
introduced to the second law with insufficient preparation (e.g. not
having been first carefully introduced to the concept of energy, etc.).

Leigh