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Re: what to call little "g"



I feel uncomfortable calling g the local gravitational constant, although I
have done so. There are two reasons for my discomfort. First, the word
constant means no change. Second, the gravitational constant G does not have
the same dimensions as g and this may lead to some confusion. Pressed to
vote, I would lean toward the local gravitational field strength. However,
in an introductory course or even in the first quarter of a calculus based
physics sequence, the word field is probably meaningless. This may be an
area where re-teaching is necessary. Perhaps revisiting g would make sense
when covering Gauss's Law for electrostatics.

Bob Carlson