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

[Jack Uretsky <jlu@hep.anl.gov>]

Well, in Bob's fram-dependent universe, in the first approximation, no two 
people could communicate.  The true situation is that the foregoing is 
true only in the second approximation.
				Regards,
					Jack


On Wed, 29 Nov 2006, Bob Sciamanda wrote:

> > . . . . .  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
>
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