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Re: Cause and Effect



Prior to this discussion, I was perfectly happy saying that an object
accelerates as a result of a net force acting upon it (to help in my
*interpretation*). I now wonder if this wording actually helps
*reinforce* misconceptions in my students.

A lot of students think that a ball that is thrown accelerates while it is
in the air as a result of a "force of the throw" (have them consider a
curve ball, for example).

Might our use of the word "cause" be contributing to this misconception?

It might help such students to tell them that our use of the word "cause"
is arbitrary. Nature only seems to say that the net force and the
acceleration occur together.

Comments?

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| Robert Cohen Department of Physics |
| East Stroudsburg University |
| bbq@esu.edu East Stroudsburg, PA 18301 |
| http://www.esu.edu/~bbq/ (570) 422-3428 |
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