Re: [Phys-L] inertia and the tablecloth demo

["Derek McKenzie" <derek@physicsfootnotes.com>]

Yes, I would say that "inertia" is to "mass" as "push/pull" is to
"force".

The pedagogical issue with this, however, is that whereas everybody
knows what you mean by "push/pull", almost no student will know what you
mean by "inertia". This places you in the somewhat ridiculous position
of having to explain what the synonym of a thing means when you could
just as easily explain the thing itself!

Derek McKenzie
http://PhysicsFootnotes.com



-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [Phys-L] inertia and the tablecloth demo
From: Jeffrey Schnick <JSchnick@Anselm.Edu>
Date: Fri, August 19, 2016 12:35 am
To: "Phys-L@Phys-L.org" <Phys-L@Phys-L.org>

I consider mass and inertia to be the same thing. Inertia is the word
one tends to use when one is talking about the concept and mass is the
word one tends to use when one wants to assign a value to it. It is
often said that "Mass is a measure of inertia." (That phrase, in quotes,
gets 65,100 hits on Google.) I prefer "Mass is inertia." which only gets
18,200 hits.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Phys-l [mailto:phys-l-bounces@www.phys-l.org] On Behalf Of
> LaMontagne, Bob
> Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2016 11:49 AM
> To: Phys-L@Phys-L.org
> Subject: Re: [Phys-L] inertia and the tablecloth demo
>
> I always thought of inertia as a concept. Mass is how it is embodied in
> Newton's 2nd Law (And Newton's gravitational law).
>
> Bob at PC
>
> ________________________________________
> From: Phys-l <phys-l-bounces@www.phys-l.org> on behalf of Daniel
> MacIsaac <danmacisaac@gmail.com>
> Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2016 11:30 AM
> To: Phys-L@Phys-L.org
> Subject: Re: [Phys-L] inertia and the tablecloth demo
>
> On Aug 17, 2016, at 7:12 PM, Bernard Cleyet <bernard@cleyet.org> wrote:
> > Now I am confused: I thought inertia was synonymous w/ mass.
> >
> >
> > bc
> > _______________________________________________
> > Forum for Physics Educators
> > Phys-l@www.phys-l.org
> > http://www.phys-l.org/mailman/listinfo/phys-l
>
> Moi aussi. Inertia units are kg etc and dimensions are those of mass.
>
> Synonymous at least until one gets to inertial mass vs gravitational mass…
>
> I’m always happy to learn otherwise,
>
> Dan MacIsaac, Associate Professor of Physics, SUNY-Buffalo State College
> SAMC278, 1300 Elmwood Ave, Buffalo NY 14222 USA 1-716-878-3802
> <macisadl@buffalostate.edu> <http://PhysicsEd.BuffaloState.edu>
> Physics Graduate Coordinator & NSF Investigator for ISEP (MSP) and Noyce
>
>
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