Pat: It's "Twinkie." Just do a Google search on it; you'll discover all you ever wanted to know -- and more.
Bill Potts, CMS Roseville, CA http://metric1.org [SI Navigator] -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Pat Naughtin Sent: Saturday, March 09, 2002 11:40 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:18641] Re: Metrication and goal setting Dear Jim and All, Pardon my ignorance, but what's a twinky? From here it sort of sounds vaguely salacious! On another point, I like your approach to understanding the difference between energy and power. Would you mind sharing some of the values you use for energy content? Cheers, Pat Naughtin CAMS - Certified Advanced Metrication Specialist - United States Metric Association ASM - Accredited Speaking Member - National Speakers Association of Australia Member, International Federation for Professional Speakers -- on 2002/03/08 04.09, Jim Elwell at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > At 11:55 AM 3/7/2002 -0500, James R. Frysinger wrote: >> 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. > > My experience teaching people, including some who do not even have high > school diplomas, isn't quite this bad. I use two different methods that > seem to help. > > First, to teach the difference between power and energy, at the start of a > class I put out two sets of four AA batteries, one running a small penlight > (wired in parallel), the other running a larger spotlight (wired in > series). By the end of class the spotlight is dead, while the penlight goes > for several hours. Everyone inherently understands that the two sets of > batteries contain the same energy, so it is relatively easy to grasp the > power being different. > > As to the different types of power (and energy), I give them (rounded) > conversion factors for a variety of units, and have them figure out how > long a Twinkie will "power" a car, or how long a battery would "feed" a > human, or how much the natural gas a house uses in a month would if it were > peanut butter. Using such crazy comparisons helps them grasp that energy is > energy in whatever form. > > Jim Elwell >
