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Re: [Phys-l] [PHYSHARE] Darwinism under attack? and the physicsclassroom



Hi all-
Feynman (I-10-1) seens ti equate the 3d Law with conservation of Momentum. The argument strikes me as making the 3d law a corollary of Laws I & 2.
Regards,
Jack


On Mon, 28 Jul 2008, John Clement wrote:

This depends on how the question was asked. One way around this is to
always refer to models, and then to ask questions such as using the model of
x explain y. After all there are a number of models which explain various
aspects of physics. With time of course some models are discarded,
modified, or used less. However, I would assume that the question asked was
expected to be answered within the context of the course, and that there was
an appropriate answer within that context.

Because God wills it is a perfectly good explanation for Newton's third law
in an introductory course. The relationship between the interaction forces
has no explanation. Even Newton resorted to that type of explanation when
he couldn't figure out why orbits were stable.

This type of answer is usually either a symptom of a poorly asked question,
or a student who didn't know the appropriate answer.

John M. Clement
Houston, TX



What would you do if a student answered a question on your test
with "because God wills it to be that way"?


I suggest asking Brian W, as he has (had) such a student.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/brian_w/2702703072/


bc reads four.



On 2008, Jul 27, , at 22:57, Marc "Zeke" Kossover wrote:

--- On Sun, 7/27/08, paul c. cheffi <cheffi@ROADRUNNER.COM> wrote:

None of this fits into light, sound, energy...
whatever that
is happening in your world. Let the Biology teacher figure
it out.


What would you do if a student answered a question on your test
with "because God wills it to be that way"?

How do you know that your explanations about light, sound, energy,
whatever are true or at least close to being true?

Marc "Zeke" Kossover




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