Re: What is weight? (was Re: Internal or external?)

[Robert Carlson <Raacc@AOL.COM>]

John,

This brings to question the area that most students will be working in.  Is
Newtonian mechanics their bread and butter?  Are most of your students going
into areas of engineering or pure physics?  Is the new definition better for
their understanding in subsequent engineering courses?  Or, is this not an
important issue for you and your students?  How is the new model an
improvement in these areas when the old model works just fine?

Bob Carlson

In a message dated 10/10/99 5:28:58 PM Central Daylight Time,
ajmallinckro@CSUPOMONA.EDU writes:

>  Furthermore, you'd be in good company--e.g., Sir Isaac Newton.  However,
>  for nearly a century now, we have understood that the Newtonian model is
>  flawed--flawed so subtly that it doesn't matter in many situations, not at
>  all subtly flawed in others.
>
>  One important aspect of our new, improved model is the understanding that
>  the only special frames are freely falling frames, that they are
>  necessarily restricted in extent (i.e., "local"), and that they are
>  special because, in them, g = 0.