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Re: electric charge and mass

I totally agree that a characteristic such as "blue"
is not a substance. Although blue is associated
with matter it does not have the characteristics of
matter. For example, blue does not have inertial or
gravitational mass and it fails to occupy any space.

However constituents of matter, such as electrons and protons,
do occupy space and do have a small, but measurable, mass.

A strream of water consists of a moving mass of water particles.
Similarly a stream of elctrons, protons, or other charged particles
is also a body with mass will also consist of mass,

Herb


























































































































































































































































On Fri, 21 Dec 2001 16:07:16 -0500 Larry Cartwright
<exit60@CABLESPEED.COM> writes:
William Beaty wrote:
I've encountered people who think that electric current is "real",
and
that electric charge is just an abstract concept. Very weird.
(The flow
rate of a substance is more real than the substance which
flows?!!!)

I'm probably getting in over my head here, (and I'm praying that
someone
more highly informed and articulate will snatch up my banner and
carry
it victorious to the finish line) but I am compelled to object to
the
19th century characterization of electrical charge as a "substance".
Is
not electrical charge a *property* of the elementary particles
which
make up what we call substance, the quarks and leptons and bosons,
etc?
To me, calling charge a substance is like insisting that blue is a
substance, or foul-smelling is a substance or strangeness is a
substance. How have I erred in my conceptualization of the
sub-atomic
structure of the Universe?

Best wishes,

Larry

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Larry Cartwright <exit60@cablespeed.com>
Retired (June 2001) Physics Teacher
Charlotte MI 48813 USA
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Herb Gottlieb from New York City
(Where it's nice to live but I wouldn't
want to be a tourist here)
herbgottlieb@juno.com