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Re: ACCELERATION



On Thu, 14 Sep 2000, Leigh Palmer wrote:

What has been implicit here is that one is talking about the motion of a
massive extended object - and idealizing it by discussing the motion
of a point having no size - or substantial reality!



True, we generally talk about such motions with regard to points,
but don't we also show that the motion of an extended object, or group of
smaller objects, can be described by applying Newton to the
center-of-mass; a point of no size. So motion of extended (real) objects
can be modeled quite accurately by using a single point.

Mike Monce
Connecticut College

Only to the extent that all the forces act through the center of
mass, and that condition is seldom met for an extended body. Even the
center of gravity does not exactly coincide with the center of mass.

Hugh
--

Hugh Haskell
<mailto://haskell@ncssm.edu>
<mailto://hhaskell@mindspring.com>

Let's face it. People use a Mac because they want to, Windows because they
have to..
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