Recent content by dr_k

Dale and PAllen, I placed my thread in this forum to get expert GR opinions; I appreciate your input. GR was not my specialty. I will ponder your recent comments. Thanks again.

Thanks for your input. I wouldn't interpret there being 3 masses, just 2. Let m_I and q_I stand for the intrinsic properties of matter, mass and charge, for an isolated test particle. They are part of the scalar function f(q_I,m_I) that expands/contracts the acceleration in Newton's 2nd...

Bear with me here, m_I is a new definition that denotes one of the two intrinsic properties of matter, m_I and q_I, such that the "new" m_I is not defined to be "the proportionality between net force and acceleration", but part of a scalar function f(q_I, m_I) that expands/contracts the...

PAllen and Dale, The most general picture that I can draw is http://i48.tinypic.com/hs6ssw.jpg , where Newton's 2nd Postulate is {\bf F}_{net} = f(q_I,m_I) {\bf a} , here m_I is the inertial mass and q_I is the "inertial charge", Coulomb's Electrostatic Postulate is {\bf F}_{q_{Coulomb}} =...

Arrghhh. This picture is one where I made some assumptions. A more general picture is: http://i48.tinypic.com/hs6ssw.jpg

Your comments are rational, and precise. My query is only conjecture, one that has been w/ me for decades...just something, for me, to think about...I thought I would run it by the Big Brains that I've encountered here. Aside: I've run this by many a physics compatriot over the years and...

Good Afternoon Martin and Steven, Suppose I postulate that Newton's 2nd Postulate be modified, such that {\bf F}_{net} = f(m,q) {\bf a}. Then I postulate that f(m,q) is a series where the first term is "inertial mass" m, and the second term is a function of the test particle's inertial mass m...

aty, Thanks for your input, I'll read that paper. I could be wrong, but I see a little bit of circular logic here: the principal of equivalence uses the 2nd Postulate {\bf F}_{net}=m{\bf a} as an a priori assumption to show acceleration is independent of the role of test mass versus source mass...

aty and martin, For lack of a more vivid imagination, I would call q, in f(m,q), the "inertial charge" analogous to the "inertial mass" m in f(m,q). f(m,q) = m + (negligible terms), except in instances perhaps not yet encountered, would imply the definition of "inertial mass" would be modified...

I agree w/ your assertion. Newton's 2nd Postulate agrees wonderfully w/ all our observed phenomena...so far. My query is very specific though. Is there a mathematical line of logic, from Classical Field Theory and/or or GR, that forces the scalar f(m,q) to precisely be m?...Not a proof of {\bf...

Although I retired from active physics research almost 2 decades ago, there's a question that has annoyed/intrigued me for almost 40 years... In Classical Field Theory, matter has 2 intrinsic properties, namely mass and charge. Given Newton's 2nd Postulate, {\bf F}_{net} = m {\bf a}, I've...

Good Morning Samirgaliz, The box is accelerating to the left, for an observer at rest on the truck, but this observer's reference frame in non-inertial, i.e. an accelerated frame. The observer, at rest, on the ground is the inertial frame, and he/she sees both the box and the truck...

You must change the units for your PE calculation. Your current answer is \rm N\cdot cm, but you should write it in terms of \rm J = N\cdot m. To figure out the unknown mass, draw a free body diagram, and then apply Newton's 2nd postulate for static equilibrium.

For the "new picture", we don't have a description of the problem, so we'd have to make up our own. So I'll make a few assumptions... Suppose the block is moving to the right with increasing speed, and the spring is stretched \rm \Delta x from its equilibrium position...

Wow. That is not the picture I envisioned when I read This pictures shows x(t) satisfying a non-homogenous 2nd-order ode, but since you're given the value of \rm \ddot{x}, the displacement is merely (for a stretched spring) \rm \frac{F(\cos\theta + \mu_k \sin\theta)-m (\mu_k g+a_x)}{k}...