Re: The horrible failure of science education

From: Harry Conover (hhc314_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 08/31/04 

Date: 31 Aug 2004 15:19:23 -0700

geraldkelleher@hotmail.com (Oriel36) wrote in message news:<273f8e06.0408310310.4f7f37c0@posting.google.com>...
> reany@asu.edu (Patrick Reany) wrote in message news:<844a1b64.0408300917.4ada8a7d@posting.google.com>...
> > "Bill Hobba" <bhobba@rubbish.net.au> wrote in message news:<5ysYc.12675$D7.9493@news-server.bigpond.net.au>...
> > > "Patrick Reany" <reany@asu.edu> wrote in message
> > > news:844a1b64.0408291335.98dc0bd@posting.google.com...
> > > > eleatis@yahoo.gr (Mike) wrote in message
> news:<9c1b39be.0408272333.2d626c8@posting.google.com>...
> > > > > "Bill Hobba" <bhobba@rubbish.net.au> wrote in message
> news:<cfFXc.9844$D7.4860@news-server.bigpond.net.au>...
> > > > > > "Mike" <eleatis@yahoo.gr> wrote in message
> > > > > > news:9c1b39be.0408270020.3a028ff7@posting.google.com...
> > > > > > > "Bill Hobba" <bhobba@rubbish.net.au> wrote in message
> news:<9muXc.9096$D7.1255@news-server.bigpond.net.au>...
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > [snip]
>
> You are correct,the truth about Newton's mechanical agenda is not well
> known,go through the fog of definitions of time,space and motion and
> he did set things up his own way with some unauthorised maneuvers.

Most physicists, upon studying Newton closely, found his models to be
well considered, and his logic/math beyond reproach.
 
> The reason the guys in the 1840's found themselves in so much trouble
> was as part of the gravitational agenda in attempting to explain
> Keplerian motion,Newton sets it all up with a mean circular orbital
> motion derived from Flamsteed.He patches in elliptical motion by
> appealing to Roemer's method for determining the anomalous motion of
> Io as it appears to speed up and slow down.

This paragraph is nothing but total nonsense, since even an
undergraduate student in classical mechanics is expected to be able to
derive planetary orbital motion from Newton's basic postulates. In
fact, it's not the most difficult exercise that a physics student will
ever encounter during his/her education.

Also note that classical mechanics has absolutely nothing to do with
relativity theory, and that relativity simply extends the range of
applicability of classical Newtonian mechanics to address near-light
velocity bodies of mass.

Perhaps your knowledge of Newton and his accomplishments would be
better advanced if you would throw away your coffee table reference
publications and go to a library and read Newton in an original copy
of the Principia (or an English translation), absorb what he is
saying, and digest its consequences.

                                                     Harry C.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Maxwells and Faradays formulations of induction
    ... > orbital motion as a single sidereal motion. ... Kepler's mechanics in no way ... In frames of Newton's ... Newton's laws will be the basis of advanced calculations. ...
    (sci.physics)
  • Re: The horrible failure of science education
    ... > You are correct,the truth about Newton's mechanical agenda is not well ... Most physicists, upon studying Newton closely, found his models to be ... > motion derived from Flamsteed.He patches in elliptical motion by ... undergraduate student in classical mechanics is expected to be able to ...
    (sci.physics)
  • Re: No more please
    ... what Newton wrote. ... The quantity of motion is the measure of the same, ... velocity and quantity of matter conjunctly. ... Newtonian mechanics to that which Newton explicitly wrote down, ...
    (sci.physics.relativity)
  • Re: Falling Objects, How They Fall
    ... >>>You need to describe what the rules of your mechanics ... to make motion subject to the expansion and the ... >Do objects require forces in order to accelerate? ... >away from the Earth, or any massive object, even when there is ...
    (sci.physics.relativity)
  • Re: Conservation of angular momentum
    ... translation with no rotation about any axis. ... of a rotating equal-arm lever collides with a point object and stops ... momentumis themomentummv of an object in motion which is not ... Lagrangian mechanics using generalized coordinates. ...
    (sci.physics)