Chronology | Current Month | Current Thread | Current Date |
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] | [Date Index] [Thread Index] | [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] | [Date Prev] [Date Next] |
> My recommended solution: I just talk about "voltage". It's easy. It
> removes any temptation to talk about "EMF".
Consider the following statement that will appear to you as perfectly benign:
"At this point in your circuit the voltage should be 0.7 V."
What does that really say? "There should be a 0.7 V potential
difference between this point in your circuit and some other point that
I'm not going to tell you about, so nyah, nyah."
WE know that a voltmeter has not one but two inputs, but do our
students? In teaching E&M to freshman, I've always re-written
everything replacing V by Delta-V and always being careful to call it a
potential difference instead of "voltage."
Of course, I can't call emf a potential difference.
I am open to a new name, but in the meantime I have come up with nothing
better than calling it "ee em eff" and refusing to say what the letters
stand for.
I am sure that for 95% or more of students, it is not the _name_ that
confuses them.