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I have had students discuss what causes a force. I've found that
this helps students eliminate 'inertia' from the discussion of
forces. I've taught that each force comes from an interaction and
there must be something causing a force. Students eventually see
that inertia doesn't have an obvious cause and then can't be a force.
I am curious what others have to say about this.
Well, I wouldn't recommend that approach.
1) As a minor piece of background information: Beware that in
non-scientific vernacular language and thought, there is a
close connection between "force" and "cause", as we see from
the similarity of meaning in the following sentences:
-- I caused him to do xxxx.
-- I forced him to do xxxx.
2) The main point is that when it comes to physics, it is a horrible
mistake to confuse force with cause. Anything that blurs the
distinction between force and cause is a big step in the wrong
direction.
In particular, it is a mistake to think that the equation F=ma
means F is caused by ma (unless you stretch the terminology to
say that ma is also caused by F).