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Re: [Phys-l] Relativity Question about spring



Thank you Alphonsus for the link to the excellent site of Walter
Scheider. I read the material there up to the part to which you
referred (regarding the lower mass of a bound system resulting from a
reduction in the masses of the constituent particles). I actually found
Walter Scheider's arguments:

------------------------Walter Scheider--------------------------------
An electron is surrounded by an electric field. At each point in the
surroundings of the electron, the electric field contains energy, with
an energy density measured in Joules/cm3, that is well known. Energy and
mass are one and the same (Einstein), so that the energy that is in the
electric field is also an equivalent amount of mass. That mass is part
of the electron. When the electron forms a hydrogen atom by forming a
bond with a proton, the field surrounding them is diminished. Both the
electron and the proton lose some of their field energy, and that loss
represents some diminution in the total mass of the two particles.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

to lend more support to the opposing view (that the lower mass is a
characteristic of the bound system as a whole). I would agree that the
field surrounding the proton and the electron discussed by Walter
Scheider is diminished, but I would argue that neither the field of the
electron nor the field of the proton is weaker at any point in space
than it would be in the absence of the other particle but rather that
the two undiminished fields add up to something that is of smaller
magnitude than either field by itself at points in space surrounding the
pair of particles.

Jeff Schnick

-----Original Message-----
From: phys-l-bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu [mailto:phys-l-
bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu] On Behalf Of
carmelo@pacific.net.sg
Sent: Thursday, May 10, 2007 9:50 AM
To: Forum for Physics Educators
Subject: Re: [Phys-l] Relativity Question about spring

Hugh wrote:
I don't think so. The issue is, what is the system.

Have not we defined an electron or a muon as a system before? This is
also known as "one-particle system". You may not have answered the
question.

But no one says that the neutron "loses such and such a
mass" when it becomes bound to a proton, we only talk about the
deuteron mass being less than the collective masses of the proton
and
neutron as free particles.

What if some physicists and physics teachers have said something to
that effect?

In fact, some astrophysicists are interested in the effective neutron
mass; for those neutrons which are present in the neutron stars...

In addition, physics teachers such as Walter Scheider, the
"Presidential award winning teacher", describe this in his book and
website:

"Now, back to the question: what got smaller? (We don't mean smaller
in size, necessarily, but in mass.) Did some of the protons get
smaller? Did some of the neutrons get smaller? Did some of the
electrons get smaller?

In fact, the answer to that question is "yes." But, you will respond,
we've been taught that a proton has a definite mass, the mass that is
listed in the tables to seven decimal places. Same for the neutron,
and the electron. Surprisingly it's not quite like that......"

For more details, please refer to
http://www.cavendishscience.org/energy-flash/flash-index.htm

Alphonsus

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