Re: A Physics Textbook Error

[Chuck Britton <britton@ODIE.NCSSM.EDU>]

> brian whatcott wrote:
> > > > In one of my textbooks, it states that OHMs law was invented by OHM
> > > > Some other textbooks say that OHMs law was made by Kirchhoff...
> >  This publication date permits little room for maneuver to the claim
> >  that Kirchhoff had priority. "The Galvanic Circuit Investigated
> >  Mathematically" appeared when Kirchhoff was three years old.
>
> This sounds pretty definitive to me.  It may still be that although the
> relation is due to Ohm, the person who started referring to it as "Ohm's
> Law" was Kirchhoff.  Anybody care to take a stab at that possibility?

All *I* ask, is that we begin calling it 'Ohm's Rule of Thumb' or some such
more correct term.

EVERY relation is linear if you look at a narrow enough range of variables,
and NOTHING (that is interesting) obeys Ohm's 'Law' over any range to speak of.

Special things are manufactured to fill the linear relationship. They are
called 'resistors' and, even they, come with a clear notice of the limited
range where they can be expected to be linear.
(It's called the power rating. Exceed it, and you leave the linear world.)

It's no accident that stressed          Chuck Britton
spelled backwards is desserts.          britton@odie.ncssm.edu