[Phys-L] Re: Fields etc

[Daniel Crowe <dcrowe@SOTC.ORG>]

Does "real" necessarily imply a tangible object?  Can intangible
properties be real?  I don't know that anyone is arguing that fields and
energy are tangible objects.  Can anyone explain what it means to say that
an intangible property is real?  Or is it impossible for an intangible
property to be real?  Is the color blue real, or is it just a convenient
fiction?  Are quarks and leptons real, or are they just convenient
physical models of reality?  Are they just shadows in Plato's cave?  Is
reality limited to Plato's forms?

I am having difficulty coming up with cogent answers to these questions.
Perhaps someone else on the list has good answers.

Daniel Crowe
Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics
Ardmore Regional Center
dcrowe@sotc.org

On Thu, 24 Mar 2005 16:08:53 -0700, Jim Green <JMGreen@SISNA.COM> wrote:

<snip>

> We may _choose_ to treat the field as a "real property" and follow the
> likes of Bill Nye, but look!  If it is a "property" of the system it
> follows that it is not "real."  The system may have the property of "blue"
> but "blue" isn't "real" -- You can not get a bucket of blue.   Blue paint
> yes, but not the property of blue.   We often have this discussion re the
> property of "energy" -- Show me a bucket of "energy."

<snip>
_______________________________________________
Phys-L mailing list
Phys-L@electron.physics.buffalo.edu
https://www.physics.buffalo.edu/mailman/listinfo/phys-l