Ed Leafe wrote: > On May 2, 2007, at 9:32 PM, Ricardo Aráoz wrote: > >> Actually not. "the gravitational force is proportional to the mass of >> the objects being measured" is a FACT, an observational fact. The why >> this happens may be a theory, but it is a FACT that a force (remember >> 'force' is not a 'thing' but a way to express an 'interaction' that >> makes a mass accelerate) proportional to the masses acts between them. > > Force is something that is directly measurable. Gravity is a theory > that attempts to explain that force. The force is a fact; gravity is > a theory that explains the observed facts very well. > > What's the problem?
I'm just being anal. Force is not directly measurable, we measure mass (though we normally measure 'weight') and we measure acceleration to infer force, or we measure the deformation of a spring in order to compare one force to another. Gravity is the NAME given to an interaction between two masses. Gravity is one of the four (?) basic interactions, one of the two weak interactions. Gravity is not a 'theory', as 'force' is not a theory (to have a 'proper' explanation of force you might look for Mach's laws). But there is no problem, it's only my view on the subject, so call it whatever you want. > > -- Ed Leafe > -- http://leafe.com > -- http://dabodev.com > > _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/%(messageid)s ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
