Re: why pseudowork (NOT)

[John Mallinckrodt <ajmallinckro@CSUPOMONA.EDU>]

On Fri, 29 Oct 1999, Jim Green wrote:

> By how much are each of the blocks deformed in the collision?  What are
> they made of and what it increase in temperature of each block?  What was
> the time period of the collision and the force profile during the collision.

Jim,

Good questions.  This is one response I was prepared to receive; it tells
me about your stance.  What you are saying is that, for you, work is
something *other* than the integral of the net external force dotted into
the motion of the center of mass--what I call pseudowork--because if it
were, you would be able to answer the question based purely on the initial
and final velocities of the two blocks.

So, to sharpen my conclusions about your stance, what if I gave you the
additional information that the internal energy of the 2 kg block
increases by 1 Joule during the collision?

John Mallinckrodt      mailto:ajm@csupomona.edu
Cal Poly Pomona          http://www.csupomona.edu/~ajm