Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Re: A weighty subject - wrong?

Jim, I agree with you. We indeed have not come up with a satisfactory
definition of weight, hence there are no correct or incorrect views.

Will you allow me to use the word "wrong" in the following way? If my
understanding of what my instrument is doing is different that what the
instrument is actually doing, then I could be making a wrong
interpretation of the meaning of my experimental result. I think that
is all I am trying to say, but I probably haven't said it very well.

Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D. Phone/voice-mail: 419-358-3270
Professor of Chemistry & Physics FAX: 419-358-3323
Chairman, Science Department E-Mail edmiston@bluffton.edu
Bluffton College
280 West College Avenue
Bluffton, OH 45817



-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Green [SMTP:JMGreen@SISNA.COM]
Sent: Thursday, October 14, 1999 5:26 PM
To: PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu
Subject: Re: A weighty subject

Way back in this chain some people were saying that we ought to define
weight as "whatever the scale reads." I said, in essence, be careful,
because unless you understand how your scale works, you might get some
very wrong answers. That led at least one list member to call this
"utter nonsense."

There are some in this thread who still are not getting the point: The
measurement of so called "weight" by one method or procedure as opposed
to
another can be inconsistent, meaningless, useless, worthless, evil,
wicked,
mean, bad, and/or nasty, but it can't be "wrong" -- at least until
there is
some agreement as to what should be meant by the word "weight" -- which
this list has been unable to achieve -- Nor has the list concluded that
it
is important in any way to have such an agreed upon definition.

It is the use of the word "wrong" which some may think is "utter
nonsense" .

The concept of "weight" is just not that important in physics.

Jim Green
mailto:JMGreen@sisna.com
http://users.sisna.com/jmgreen