Re: operational F, m, and a

[Jack Uretsky <jlu@HEP.ANL.GOV>]

On Tue, 16 Oct 2001, Michael Edmiston wrote:

> John Denker says that the unit of force is not the same thing as the concept
> of force.  I suppose that is true.  But it is interesting that John would
> use these words to distinguish that F=ma cannot be used to define the
> "concept of force" because that is exactly what is done at the Swedish
> National Testing and Research Institute which I referenced in my previous
> post.  They actually have a web page titled "The concept of force" and they
> use F=ma to define/describe the concept of force... using those words.  The
> URL is:
>
> http://www.sp.se/metrology/force/eng/concept.htm
>
> I suppose just because they say so doesn't make it so, but institutes like
> this are more of an authority than any one of us in this discussion.

                I try to teach my students that argument by authority
is VERBOTEN!!!!!!
                                        Regards,
                                                Jack

--
Franz Kafka's novels and novella's are so Kafkaesque that one has to
wonder at the enormity of coincidence required to have produced a writer
named Kafka to write them.
                        Greg Nagan from "The Metamorphosis" in
                     <The 5-MINUTE ILIAD and Other Classics>