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Re: textbook revisions

(2) PSSC also had, and still has, an intelligible
storyline: particles versus waves. This is far
superior to the march-through-the-topics
attitude of even the better prereform texts
such as Halliday, Resnick, and Walker.

I also learned from and admired PSSC physics. However, I now
believe that the waves-vs-particles storyline has been essentially
superceded by QED. Light is neither wave nor particle, though it
has aspects that can be described by both models. Duality is
a feature of the limitations of the two models used; not of light itself.

I'd be delighted to have comments regarding this insight of mine; if
I have it wrong please tell me with your exemplars. Maybe PSSC could be
updated to incorporate QED; it'd be nice to see at least references to QED
after geometrical and physical optics are presented.

Dan M


Dan MacIsaac, Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Northern AZ Univ
danmac@nau.edu http://purcell.phy.nau.edu PHYS-L list owner