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Re: reifying energy



Along a similar line of questioning...

Hi

I understand and agree with Jim on this issue of being very careful of
separating properties from things,

but I would like to know how Jim explain details like gamma rays creating
electron positron pairs and fission and fusion producing products with less
mass and more energy. E = mc^2. Properties creating matter, matter turning
into properties.

The only way I see to deal with this* is to declare mass to be only a
property - but of what?

What is the paint, is that real? (ref. analogy in previous post)

That seems to leave me and my students in a universe filled only with
properties. (Maybe that's the way it is, but for most HS students, something
HAS to be real).

I cannot resolve matter being real and energy being a property. Any help?


Scott

*energy is a property, not real



on 5/9/02 12:56 AM, Jim Green at JMGreen@SISNA.COM wrote:

What am I paying my utility company for? What do they give me in exchange
for my money? I'm not buying electrons (which are real?). Am I buying
energy (which is not real?)?

You are buying work -- just as if you were buying a lawn mowing service.

If energy is a property of objects can I buy
the property without buying the object?

No -- You can't buy "blue" without buying the paint bucket.

Is this like a diaper service
where I'm buying not diapers but cleanliness?

A diaper service is neither convenient nor cost effective.

J

Jim Green
mailto:JMGreen@sisna.com
http://users.sisna.com/jmgreen