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What are "principles" in science?
From
: ALVIN BACHMAN <
bachman2@PRODIGY.NET
>
Date
: Tue, 8 Jun 2004 19:08:05 -0700
Whatever the status of "principles", I think that the statement:
"In a chemical change the atoms in a substance are rearranged
to make one or more new substances."
is so vague as to be meaningless to a beginning student, and to
appear wrong to the expert.
For example, some questions that might be asked:
* Is a phase change (rearrangement of atoms in a substance) a chemical change ?
* Is there a master "substance" whose atoms can be rearranged to make any
other arbitrary substance?
* In the second sentence (not quoted) does composition refer to "arrangement" ?
[ This reminds me of the quotes from textbooks that Mario Iona used to come
up with.]
Al Bachman
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