action forcing energy to predict motion - edwin strongfstrong. taylor.pdfVIP

Action: Forcing Energy to Predict Motion Dwight E. Neuenschwander, Southern Nazarene University, Bethany, OK Edwin F. Taylor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA Slavomir Tuleja, Gymnazium arm. gen. L. Svobodu, Humenne, Slovakia n this paper we use scalar energy, rather than In this paper we force energy to predict how a par- vector force and momentum, to predict how a ticle will move. The result is a quantity called action, Iparticle will move. The result is a quantity called the invention of a string of geniuses that lived after action. Action and its relatives undergird Newton’s laws Newton. To start toward action, think of the simplest and transcend them, also predicting motion in the possible motion, that of a free particle—a particle quantum world and in the curved spacetime of general subject to no forces. Newton tells us that with respect relativity. An example exhibits action in action. to an inertial reference frame, a free particle moves in Most introductory physics courses begin with a straight line at constant speed. So choose our space mechanics, as physics itself did historically. We recall dimension x to lie along the direction of motion of this everyday experiences with toy wagons, balls, and auto- free particle and plot its worldline (Fig. 2). (Note that mobiles and refine descriptions of their motion using the axes are t and x in Fig. 2, not x and y as in Fig. 1.) vectors: force, momentum, and acceleration. Newton Constant speed means constant slope of the worldline tells us that F = dp/dt. Beyond equations, we learn to in the spacetime diagram; that is, a free particle follows represent motion graphically with a worldline, a plot of a straight worldline. T