Re: What is weight? (was Re: Internal or external?)

[Richard Tarara <rtarara@SAINTMARYS.EDU>]

----- Original Message -----
From: Leigh Palmer <palmer@SFU.CA>
> It seems to me that the *only* folks out of step with the rest of
> humanity on this issue are the introductory teachers of physics.
> Perhaps that is why there is such a fuss over this concept among us!
>
> Leigh

Maybe I've misread some of these posts (I read them very quickly), but I've
interpreted what has been written as saying that both engineers and chemists
tend to agree with W = mg.  The chemists are smart enough to realize that
their scales don't always read mg due to extra forces (like buoyancy) and
must therefore make corrections.  I also suspect that the 'man in the
street' considers weight to be a property of the object--more akin to mass,
rather than what the scale reads.  In other words, I don't think 'we'
introductory teachers of physics are such an isolated minority.  ;-)

Rick