Re: On 1/4*Pi in Coulomb's law

[Joel Rauber <Joel_Rauber@SDSTATE.EDU>]

John wrote in part:

> f) There is no logical basis for giving Coulomb's law
> priority over all the
> other laws, and insisting that it be simplified no matter what.

In the typical intro text book there is plenty of logical basis for doing
this: it is the first topic covered in the study of electro-magnetic
phenomena.  This may not be sufficient to warrant overturning SI, but it is
logical.


> There are lots of real difficulties in the world.
> Electromagnetism is not
> a trivial subject.  The 4 pi in question seems to be a 100%
> real complexity
> that is in danger of being mis-assigned to a bogus cause.

Agreed!

> The fact that
> the area of a unit sphere is not equal to unity is a
> difficulty;  you'll
> just have to deal with it.

Interesting thought, just off the top of my head, that I haven't thought
through at all:

What if we defined length units in such a way that the Unit sphere
s area is *one*.

OF course we would no doubt having 4 pi factors appearing in unwanted places
in mechanics, but . . .

Joel