Hi Frank and all, Ok, so the Action of an object is the diffrence between its kinetic and its potential energy. (Have I got the grammar right?) Since mass appears in both terms, the Action is the mass of the object times the difference between half it's squared velocity and it's height off the surface. So, a mass can have two kinds of energy, that imputed to it because of its motion, and that imputed to it because of its position [with respect to other objects, specifically the earth, in this case]. And for some reason, the path taken by the object through space will integrate this difference accross the distance between any two points. Ok, do I have that right? Or is this just another example of the dangers of teaching defrocked english majors a teensy bit of physics?
Now, we are still in the realm of classical physics. So, there is still a chance that non-mathematical intuitions might apply, right? Does anyone on the list have an intuition for why the difference between the energy of motion and the energy of position should be what guides all motion in the universe? Nick On Sun, Jul 2, 2023 at 12:27 PM Nicholas Thompson <thompnicks...@gmail.com> wrote: > Frank, > > Thanks SO MUCH for forwarding this to me. To any other defrocked english > majors on Friam, who have listened to these guys blather on about > LaGrangians for all these years, I highly, HIGHLY recommend the video. > Pretty short, AND, you might possibly, conceivably understand Steve Guerin > when you get to the end. Yeah. Really. > > Nick > > ---------- Forwarded message --------- > From: Frank Wimberly <wimber...@gmail.com> > Date: Thu, Jun 29, 2023 at 2:53 PM > Subject: Fwd: Watch "The Most Important Idea in Physics: The Principle of > Least Action - Ask a Spaceman!" on YouTube > To: Nicholas Thompson <thompnicks...@gmail.com> > > > > > --- > Frank C. Wimberly > 140 Calle Ojo Feliz, > Santa Fe, NM 87505 > > 505 670-9918 > Santa Fe, NM > > ---------- Forwarded message --------- > From: Frank Wimberly <wimber...@gmail.com> > Date: Thu, Jun 29, 2023, 12:51 PM > Subject: Watch "The Most Important Idea in Physics: The Principle of Least > Action - Ask a Spaceman!" on YouTube > To: Thompson, Nicholas <nickthomp...@earthlink.net>, Barry MacKichan < > barry.mackic...@mackichan.com> > > > https://youtu.be/UuqpCBZoX3M > > --- > Frank C. Wimberly > 140 Calle Ojo Feliz, > Santa Fe, NM 87505 > > 505 670-9918 > Santa Fe, NM >
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