Before the recent discussion I would never have asked this question, but
does anyone agree with the statement that force IS mass times acceleration,
as in the answer to a request to describe what a force is? I have been
involved in several interesting arguments through the years with some of my
better but lazier students who were firmly convinced that since F = ma, they
could describe force as the product of mass and acceleration and did so on a
test.
Question: Describe what a force is.
Answer: mass times acceleration.
My argument was always that equality did not imply identity,
and F and ma were two different concepts. And, yes, (cringe) I argued that
force causes acceleration. My students would argue back that the symbol =
means *the same*, and we would go around and around.
Perhaps after the recent discussion I might be more inclined to say that
force is *associated with* acceleration of a mass, but surely no one has
said or is thinking that they are conceptually identical. Right?
Tom McDonald
Harbor Springs H.S.
Harbor Springs, Michigan