Re: Newton's 3rd law? was Re: inertial forces (definition)

[paul o johnson <pojhome@FLASH.NET>]

Leigh Palmer wrote:

> I comment on the importance of language every time I feel it is
> useful to do so, and that is fairly often, though I don't do it in
> every lecture. I do make it very clear when I am defining a term
> which will be used in the development (like energy or efficiency)
> and I tell them to put all common usage meanings away when they
> are doing physics and to use only the defined meanings.

Hooray for you, Leigh; I do the same. But I also go to some pains to avoid physics
jargon whenever it is not essential. For example, the words "work" and "power" have
specific meanings in physics that's somewhat different from their normal English
meanings. These words are essential in physics and, like you, I try to make their
special meanings clear to my students.

But I avoid giving words such as "mean" and "body" and "normal" any special meaning
the way many physicists and mathematicians do. Words like those have well known
meanings in English and it is not essential to give them a different meaning just
to explain physics.

poj