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Re: [Phys-l] g...



I dunno. Did you read the two sentences that state:
1 pound of force measure the deflection of a standard spring. 1 lb
accelerates a certain mass with an acceleration of 1 ft/s^2; we call
that amount of mass 1 slug.

Doesn't that specify "the standard spring and the defining deflection"? So how is the situation "very different"?

My next sentence should have been "1 slug has a weight of ~32 slug-ft/s^2".



On Mon, 20 Nov 2006, Ludwik Kowalski wrote:

On Nov 20, 2006, at 5:54 PM, Jack Uretsky wrote:

But there is no "k" needed. In what my 1940 text calls the static
systim,
1 pound of force measure the deflection of a standard spring. 1 lb
accelerates a certain mass with an acceleration of 1 ft/s^2; we call
that
amount of mass 1 slug. 1 slug has a weight of ~32 ft/s^2. G has a
value
of about3.5x10^{-8}#(ft/slug)^2. F=ma in ordinary English units, no
"k"
needed.

This defines 1 lb in terms of acceleration in free fall. The situation
would be very different if the standard spring, and the defining
deflection, were specified instead of 32 ft/s^2.

Ludwik Kowalski
Let the perfect not be the enemy of the good.
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Regards,
Jack
--
"Trust me. I have a lot of experience at this."
General Custer's unremembered message to his men,
just before leading them into the Little Big Horn Valley