Re: Car acceleration

[Bernard Cleyet <anngeorg@PACBELL.NET>]

I meant ".... exhausted READING the thread."

Even that's poor English usage.

bc


Herbert H Gottlieb wrote:

> I thought that this thread had petered out.
> However, at the risk of being called silly
> also, try this one out for size:
>
> According to Newton's second law,   f=ma
>
> Transposing,                        m=f/a
>
> Therefore, if you divide a force on a
> car by its acceleration after a stop sign
> you CREATE MORE MASS ??
>
> Herb Gottlieb from New York City
> (Where mass cannot be created as well as destroyed)
>
> On Sat, 02 Feb 2002 20:44:04 -0800 Bernard Cleyet <anngeorg@PACBELL.NET>
> writes:
> > Do you suggest they take Chem. for the answer to that question?
> >
> > bc
> >
> > P.s. Sorry for the late ice ?.  I thought I'd exhausted the thread.
> >
> >
> > Robert Cohen wrote:
> >
> > > I agree a re-wording is in order.
> > >
> > > The problem with "cause" has been discussed before on this list
> > (search for
> > > "F=ma" in the list archives).  I just know my students would ask
> > me "If the
> > > force causes the acceleration, what causes the force?"
> > >
> > > ____________________________________________
> > > Robert Cohen; rcohen@po-box.esu.edu; http://www.esu.edu/~bbq
> > > Physics, East Stroudsburg Univ, E. Stroudsburg, PA 18301
> > >
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: Chris Horton [mailto:ChrisAHorton2@HOTMAIL.COM]
> > > > Sent: Saturday, February 02, 2002 7:56 AM
> > > > To: PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu
> > > > Subject: Re: Car acceleration
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > One could argue that E is the correct answer: The force of
> > > > the foot on the
> > > > pedal causes a chain of events with the result that the car
> > > > accelerates.
> > > >
> > > > No, I am not just being facetious.  The joker in this deck is
> > the word
> > > > "causes".  This word as commonly used (and I don't remember it
> > being
> > > > redefined in any physics curriculum) does not preclude any
> > number of
> > > > intermediate agencies, time delays, etc.
> > > >
> > > > A better wording might be "What force acts on the car to
> > accelerate it
> > > > forward?"
> > > > Chris
>
> Herb Gottlieb from New York City
> (Where it's nice to live but I wouldn't
> want to be a tourist here)
> herbgottlieb@juno.com