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[Phys-L] Re: Area vector



Kilmer, Skip wrote:

Parallel to the plane is ambiguous?

Yes. If I draw an arrow on a flat sheet of paper, the arrow is parallel
to the plane of the paper. But which way does the arrow point, relative
to, say, the bottom edge of the paper? Since the arrow can point in any
one of an infinite number of directions, "parallel to the plane" is
ambiguous.

--
Rodney Dunning
Assistant Professor of Physics
Birmingham-Southern College


skip

-----Original Message-----
From: Forum for Physics Educators [mailto:PHYS-L@list1.ucc.nau.edu]On
Behalf Of Tony Wayne
Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2005 13:28
To: PHYS-L@LISTS.NAU.EDU
Subject: Area vector


Does any one know why the "area vector" for a surface is defined as
being normal to the plane of the surface instead of parallel to the
plane of the surface?
-Tony
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Tony Wayne
twayne@albemarle.org
http://physics.k12albemarle.org



--
Rodney Dunning
Assistant Professor of Physics
Birmingham-Southern College
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