Re: [Phys-l] DATA, FACTS, LAWS, THEORIES

[ludwik kowalski <kowalskil@mail.montclair.edu>]

On Oct 19, 2009, at 1:10 PM, Bernard Cleyet wrote:

> I was taught to use "The Energy Principal"  by Peter Redmond whenever
> possible, as it is easier.  This was some time ago -- have laws been
> substituted for principles?
>
> I instinctively used law for the relationship of extension and force
> in my hardening magnetic repulsion oscillator. Not a generalization;
> is this wrong?

1) In a private message B.K. wrote:
Jules Henri Poincare (1854-1912) observed that “Science is built with  
facts as a house is with stones, but a collection of facts is no more  
a science than a heap of stones is a house.”

2) Let me parphrase this : Laws of phsics are relation between  
variables, but a relation between variables is not necessarily a law  
of physics.

3) And here is something similar. Each medieval masons, working on a  
cathedral,  was asked "what are you doing?"  The first said: "I am  
chipping stones," the second said: "I am supporting my family;" and  
the third said:  "I am glorifying God."


Ludwik Kowalski, a retired physics teacher
5 Horizon Road, Apt. 2702, Fort Lee, NJ, 07024, USA
Also an amateur journalist.

                                            Food for thought:  
"Absence of proof is not proof of absence."

Updated links  to his selected publications are at:
http://csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/cf/  ,   http://csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/my_opeds.html 
  and  http://csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/revcom.html
>