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Re: Favorite Test Questions



Gang:
Since I am probably the one that started this talk about
the light bulbs maybe I may be permitted to summarize and
then suggest we move on. When I mentioned the light bulbs
I was thinking about Ohm's Law in the form: "A conductor
has a fixed ratio between the "emf" across it and the
current passing through it, WHEN IT IS HELD AT CONSTANT
TEMPERATURE." Clearly, this is difficult to do with a
light bulb filament because it operates at about 1200 C.
So, in practical terms, many of you would say it does not
obey Ohm's Law in the "practical" sense (where the
temperature-dependent nature of the resistance is ignored).
Is everybody happy? Let's talk about something else.
Barlow Newbolt
Department of Physics and Engineering
Washington and Lee University
Lexington, VA 24450
Telephone and Phone Mail: 540-463-8881
Fax: 540-463-8884
e-mail: NewboltW@madison.acad.wlu.edu

"Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future."

Neils Bohr