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Re: [Phys-l] a magnetic filament snapped.



At 12:00 AM -0500 on 7/22/06, Jack Uretsky wrote concerning [Phys-l] a magnetic filament snapped. :
This is plasma physics, which is not studied in elementary courses.
Jack

On Fri, 21 Jul 2006, Chuck Britton wrote:

from http://spaceweather.com/ (a nasa site) I read:

> Yesterday on the sun, a magnetic filament snapped.


This is EXACTLY the point that I was addressing ! ! ! ! ! !

It is too complicated for 'simple' calculations to be done. Agreed. No problem.
Good folks earn their living by trying to solve these seemingly intractable problems.
And much more theoretical, computational and experimental work remains to be done.

But - things like this exist in nature and are interesting to lots of people who have absolutely no interest in complex differential equations, Monte Carlo simulations or Tokamac reactors.
Are my oversimplifications that relate this phenomenon to 'simple' physics so wrong that they should be ignored? I hope not.

I like to think that these realities are fascinating and can stimulate young inquisitive minds, perhaps even helping them learn to learn.

(For similar reasons, I refuse to relegate 'heat' to the dustbin of useful Anglo-Saxon four letter words. EVERYBODY uses the word so why not address some of it's shortcomings and usefulnesses. I feel the same about Entropy. It's not just for those who delight in enumerating states.)

But hey, I'm just a high school teacher.

At 12:00 AM -0500 on 7/22/06, Jack Uretsky wrote concerning Re: [Phys-l] a magnetic filament snapped. :
This is plasma physics, which is not studied in elementary courses.
Jack

On Fri, 21 Jul 2006, Chuck Britton wrote:

from http://spaceweather.com/ (a nasa site) I read:

> Yesterday on the sun, a magnetic filament snapped.