Re: Cause and Effect

["Dewey Dykstra, Jr." <dykstrad@EMAIL.BOISESTATE.EDU>]

> I think that most of us agree that two forces in the third
> law, or F and a, in the second law, appear simultaneously
> in those problems we solved (inertial frames, rigid objects
> etc.). In my opinion the "cause and effect" issue is essential
> but it is not part of physics; it is philosophy. Questions like
> "why does this or that happens?" would become meaningless
> wihthout a belief that everything that happens is caused by
> something else.
> Ludwik Kowalski

But, as long as we relegate the issue Leigh and Rick mentioned (Does the
effect linger after the cause has terminated? Does the continued speeding
up of an object after it has left the hand when thrown occur?) to
"philosophy" we will continue to fail at physics teaching for our students.

Remember forces and motion are topics taught in the curriculum starting no
later than the 8th or 9th grade.  Everyone who goes to school is supposed
to study (be taught?) these topics in Jr Hi physical science.  This is
essentially all of our population.  It's not just a matter of whether or
not the physics and engineering majors get it.

Why?  Because the result of this failure on our part goes *far deeper* than
the students do not develop a new notion of force.  The majority learn from
this  failure and the many others we inflict on them that they are not
smart, not good enough, to understand science, physics in particular, and
certain other special people are.  I know that this outcome is not intended
by *most* of us, but there it is nonetheless.  (I use "most" here instead
of "any" in the previous sentence having explicitly thought about the
choice.)

It is a matter of being aware of the underpinnings.  It is often the
unattended to differing underpinnings which result in the absence of
learning a new idea about the phenomena and learning a new negative (but
essentially untrue) thing about oneself.

Dewey


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dewey I. Dykstra, Jr.                 Phone: (208)426-3105
Professor of Physics                  Dept:  (208)426-3775
Department of Physics/MCF421/418      Fax: (208)426-4330
Boise State University            dykstrad@email.boisestate.edu
1910 University Drive                 Boise Highlanders
Boise, ID 83725-1570                  novice piper: GHB, Uilleann

"As a result of modern research in physics, the ambition and hope,
still cherished by most authorities of the last century, that physical
science could offer a photographic picture and true image of reality
had to be abandoned."  --M. Jammer in Concepts of Force, 1957.

"If what we regard as real depends on our theory, how can we make
reality the basis of our philosophy? ...But we cannot distinguish
what is real about the universe without a theory...it makes no sense
to ask if it corresponds to reality, because we do not know what
reality is independent of a theory."--S. Hawking in Black Holes
and Baby Universes, 1993.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++