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Re: Energy as ability to do work

Then I guess I better get out of the teaching game entirely! (NOT!)

My freshman calculus course didn't finish the definition of the real
numbers until the second semester. This axiomatization was
interesting, but ultimately convinced me to stick with the 'reality'
of physics as opposed to the self-consistent mindgames of math.

Biology teachers can't agree on a complete/consistent definition of
'life' and WE will not be able to come with a (non-trivial)
definition of energy. Kurt Godel may have offered some insight into
this difficulty?

At 1:46 PM -0500 10/26/99, Ludwik Kowalski wrote:
Do not use concepts which you can not define (at your level of teaching).
Dealing with concepts which can not be defined quantitatively would turn
physics into non-physics.

Chuck Britton wrote:

> ... I tell my HS kids that Energy is too important to be limited by a
> definition.
> As are ALL of the most important words in ANY field of study.

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Chuck Britton Education is what is left when
britton@odie.ncssm.edu you have forgotten everything
North Carolina School of Science & Math you learned in school.
(919) 286-3366 x224 Albert Einstein, 1936