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Re: why pseudowork (NOT)

One of the powers of thermodynamics is that one can invoke principles
without needing to know the mechnanism. The thermodynamic result only
restricts the set of possible mechanisms. That seems to be the case
here....the conservation principles work quite well here. Momentum is
conserved and KE is not gained. What the mechanism is, is an amusing
question, but I don't think it is germaine...and of course there could
be an infinite variety of them, or so it seems.

joe

On Fri, 29 Oct 1999, Ludwik
Kowalski wrote:

Yes, Brian, you describe what should happen on the air
track. But how to make this happen? The question was
practical, not theoretical.

brian whatcott wrote:

Linear momentum before is 2 x 1 and 1 x -1 kg m/s
Linear momentum after is 2 x 0 and 1 x 1 kg m/s

Or is it?