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Re: [Phys-l] Force on a charged particle from a magnetic field



. . . . . In my opinion, the moment we
introduce the Lorentz force, we become almost obliged to point out
the seeming absurdity of a force that depends on velocity--not
*relative* velocity, just velocity--and that vanishes in the frame of
the moving particle. It is not asking too much of students to ask
them to appreciate that an immediate implication of that fact is that
the electromagnetic field is frame-dependent.
. . . From: "John Mallinckrodt" <ajm@csupomona.edu>


It is so difficult, if not impossible, for us to drop our baggage and appreciate the primitive paradigms which were so natural to the unwashed, awakening human consciousness. But with a little effort and humility we should, even now, be able to see how pioneering minds (eg, Isaac Newton) might find it very natural to harbor a model of reality which is most simply explicable when viewed from the preferred frame of absolute rest. Absolute space and time are easily axiomatic to the typical tabula rasa.

I think we lose something precious intellectually, emotionally and pedagogically, when we discontinuosly leap forward to the hard won modern paradigms without remembering from whence we came. The old notions were not absurd - they were held by great minds. Placed in their time, what would we have believed?

Query: Is a universe governed by a frame-dependent physics impossible a priori?


Bob Sciamanda
Physics, Edinboro Univ of PA (Em)
http://www.winbeam.com/~trebor/
trebor@winbeam.com