It’s the first day of the new term, and the projector bulb that was working on Friday decided to stop working by Sunday. After that bit of excitement this morning, plus my lecture, I’m beat. I always forget how much talking is involved in intro physics lectures.
My class for the term is the first term of introductory physics, which seems like a good idea for a poll:
Given the book we use, “The Momentum Principle,” “The Energy Principle,” and “The Angular Momentum Principle” would be better names for what I’ve got in mind, but it’s not that widely used, so I went with the conservation law terminology instead.
Hey, where is his theory of gravity on that list?
The principle of least action.
Not Newton’s but part of Newtonian physics nonetheless.
Yes, I’m with Joseph, it’s either the inverse square law or his theory of alchemy.
Heh, we call them the “physics principle(s)s of conservation of _____” here. Covering all the bases?
I voted for Conservation of Energy. The reason it’s my favorite is that you get to say, “The more you air condition the subway car, the more the platform heats up.”
I am not religious, but I have a keen sense of the interconnectedness of Everything. The car/platform aphorism just does it for me.
Hey — where is
“I detest Newtonian physics because Newton didn’t indicate how given participants should go about deciding whether they are at rest to each other, or not (much less a given participant at rest by itself).”
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Or
“I detest Newtonian physics because Newton didn’t figure out how long ago he could have seen that the apple set out to drop on his head.”
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Or
“I detest Newtonian physics because Newton didn’t indicate how given participants should go about deciding whether they constitute a closed system, or not.”
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Or at least:
“I detest Newtonian physics because Newton was (at least in hindsight) a real and very specific dick when it came to physics.”
?
Well — it’s “kind of a dick” then, you know.