Duncan Bath wrote:
>
> This whole business of 'power' must be mystifying to members of the
> general public. They read (or hear) of h.p., W, kW, Btu/hr and so on. The
> incentive to really come to grips with this technical stuff must be pretty
> well blunted from day 1.
> Duncan
I cannot sufficiently express how frustratingly difficult it is to
teach students that the concept of power crosses into many areas:
electrical, mechanical, thermal, etc. For American students, an obvious
source of confusion is the plethora of units that are commonly used, as
you have put it above, Duncan. Indeed, they sometimes try to tell me
that "these powers are different" on the basis of the differing units. I
wonder how my experience compares to that of instructors in physics
classrooms in metricated countries.
Jim
--
Metric Methods(SM) "Don't be late to metricate!"
James R. Frysinger, CAMS http://www.metricmethods.com/
10 Captiva Row e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Charleston, SC 29407 phone/FAX: 843.225.6789
