Common Misconceptions

In this post I present the notion of "misconception". This is because most Islamic writings that describe the relationship between Islam and modern science are mainly based on misconceptions. Basically, a concept is an abstract or general idea inferred or derived from specific instances and is typically labeled or designated by a corresponding term. For example, in Physics, we have concepts like motion, velocity, force and mass. Concepts help to integrate apparently unrelated observations and phenomena into theories and laws, which are the basic ingredients of science. For example, the concept of motion is described using the concepts of velocity, acceleration, displacement and time, and the relationship between motion and force is described in Newton's laws of motion. The ability to form or understand mental concepts and abstractions is called conception. A misconception is an incorrect conception which happens when a person believes in a concept that is objectively false. For example, in the theory of evolution, the idea that humans evolved from monkeys is a popular scientific misconception of the idea that humans and the monkeys simply share a common ancestor. A list of some common misconceptions and their corresponding clarifications can be found here. A misconception may result from incorrect information (aka erroneous belief) or from incorrect reasoning (aka logical fallacy). When a misconception is favorable to the person who holds it is called self-deception. But when a person strongly holds a false belief in spite of invalidating evidence then it is called delusion. One of the critical erroneous belief misconception in science is to believe that science is about proving anything. Proving something does not make it true. Nothing in science is ever proved true, it is only confirmed by observation and/or experiment. Regardless of how well or how long something has been confirmed, it is always subject to falsification or correction by new observations or experiments. For example, Newton's laws of motion and classical mechanics were verified by experiment and observation for over 200 years but they later were modified when the Special Theory of Relativity was introduced and showed that the laws would be wrong at very high speeds. Another common misconception is the confusion over the meanings of the terms "fact", "law" and "theory" by suggesting that "fact" means "truth," and "theory" means "speculation" or that a "law" is more certain than a "theory". Scientific facts, laws and theories are three very different types of statements. Scientific facts are controlled, repeatable and verified scientific observation or phenomena. A scientific law is a description of an observed regularity among facts, often expressible as a simple mathematical formula. A theory is an integrated conceptual framework for explaining and reasoning about the events that have been observed and if a lot of evidence is collected to support the theory, it will probably be considered as a good explanation. It may, given even more testing and verification of its predictions, become an accepted theory. The notions of "fact", "law" and "theory" can be illustrated by considering the "gravity" concept: It is a scientific observed fact that if we drop anything heavier than air then it will fall. This fact is described by Newton's "law of Universal Gravitation". Newton described the behavior of the gravity by this law but he did not (actually could not) explain why gravity did it. Einstein developed a theory of gravity, called the "General Theory of Relativity", which explained how gravity works. This theory is widely accepted as most of its predictions have been verified in many experimental observations. Apart from factual misconceptions, a reasoning misconception, or a fallacy, is a component of an argument that is evidently flawed in its logic or structure thus restating the whole argument to become incorrect. Fallacious arguments are very common and can be quite persuasive. A careful look at newspapers, advertisements, and religious and political propaganda can reveal many fallacious reasoning and arguments. But it is

sometimes hard to evaluate whether an argument is fallacious depending on the complexity of its strcuture. A very common fallacy is known as the appeal to authority. Here, a person accepts a claim because he erroneously believe that the claimant is a legitimate source or an expert on the field of that claim. For example, a person believes that the universe was created in 6 days because the Quran said so and he believes that the Quran is a ligitimate divine source of knowledge. Other common fallacies are the regression fallacy, cherry picking and appeal to emotion. A detailed list of common fallacies can be found here and here. On the other hand, misrepresentation of a concept, though not a misconception in itself, may produce a misconception. For example, the misrepresentation of the theory of evolution as presented by a creationist produces a misconception which can be revealed by considering a corresponding presentation by a theistic pro-Darwin biologist. Many people have difficulty challenging their misconceptions. This is due to several reasons. Some people have long adopted misconceptions and they become deeply ingrained in their minds. Other people lack the will or ability to gain new information or re-evaluate old information and therefore they don't like to be proven wrong even in the face of evidence to the contrary. Some people may purposely embrace and propagate misconceptions to achieve some personal, religious or political goals. It is necessary to mention that due to the objective nature of conceptions and the subjective nature of being human, it is likely that everyone has some kind of misconception.

Newton's Second Law of Motion

Newton's first law of motion predicts the behavior of objects for which all existing forces are balanced. The first law - sometimes referred to as the law of inertia - states that if the forces acting upon an object are balanced, then the acceleration of that object will be 0 m/s/s. Objects at equilibrium (the condition in which all forces balance) will not accelerate. According to Newton, an object will only accelerate if there is a net or unbalanced force acting upon it. The presence of an unbalanced force will accelerate an object - changing its speed, its direction, or both its speed and direction.

Newton's second law of motion pertains to the behavior of objects for which all existing forces are not balanced. The second law states that the acceleration of an object is dependent upon two variables - the net force acting upon the object and the mass of the object. The acceleration of an object depends directly upon the net force acting upon the object, and inversely upon the mass of the object. As the force acting upon an object is increased, the acceleration of the object is increased. As the mass of an object is increased, the acceleration of the object is decreased.

Newton's second law of motion can be formally stated as follows: The acceleration of an object as produced by a net force is directly proportional to the magnitude of the net force, in the same direction as the net force, and inversely proportional to the mass of the object. This verbal statement can be expressed in equation form as follows:

a = Fnet / m
The above equation is often rearranged to a more familiar form as shown below. The net force is equated to the product of the mass times the acceleration.

Fnet = m * a
In this entire discussion, the emphasis has been on the net force. The acceleration is directly proportional to the net force; the net force equals mass times acceleration; the acceleration in the same direction as the net force; an acceleration is produced by a net force. The NET FORCE. It

is important to remember this distinction. Do not use the value of merely "any 'ole force" in the above equation. It is the net force that is related to acceleration. As discussed in an earlier lesson, the net force is the vector sum of all the forces. If all the individual forces acting upon an object are known, then the net force can be determined. If necessary, review this principle by returning to the practice questions in Lesson 2. Consistent with the above equation, a unit of force is equal to a unit of mass times a unit of acceleration. By substituting standard metric units for force, mass, and acceleration into the above equation, the following unit equivalency can be written. The definition of the standard metric unit of force is stated by the above equation. One Newton is defined as the amount of force required to give a 1-kg mass an acceleration of 1 m/s/s. The Fnet = m a equation is often used in algebraic problem solving. The table below can be filled by substituting into the equation and solving for the unknown quantity. Try it yourself and then use the click on the buttons to view the answers.

Net Force (N)

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 10 10 20 20

Mass (kg)
2 2 4 2

Acceleration (m/s/s)

5 10

The numerical information in the table above demonstrates some important qualitative relationships between force, mass, and acceleration. Comparing the values in rows 1 and 2, it can be seen that a doubling of the net force results in a doubling of the acceleration (if mass is held constant). Similarly, comparing the values in rows 2 and 4 demonstrates that a halving of the net force results in a halving of the acceleration (if mass is held constant). Acceleration is directly proportional to net force. Furthermore, the qualitative relationship between mass and acceleration can be seen by a comparison of the numerical values in the above table. Observe from rows 2 and 3 that a doubling of the mass results in a halving of the acceleration (if force is held constant). And similarly, rows 4 and 5 show that a halving of the mass results in a doubling of the acceleration (if force is held constant). Acceleration is inversely proportional to mass. The analysis of the table data illustrates that an equation such as Fnet = m*a can be a guide to thinking about how a variation in one quantity might effect another quantity. Whatever alteration is made of the net force, the same change will occur with the acceleration. Double, triple or quadruple the net force, and the acceleration will do the same. On the other hand, whatever alteration is made of the mass, the opposite or inverse change will occur with the acceleration. Double, triple or quadruple the mass, and the acceleration will be one-half, one-third or onefourth its original value.

Newton's Second Law of Motion

The Big Misconception

So what's the big deal? Many people have known Newton's first law since eighth grade (or earlier). And if prompted with the first few words, most people could probably recite the law word for word. And what is so terribly difficult about remembering that F = ma? It seems to be a simple algebraic statement for solving story problems. The big deal however is not the ability to recite the first law nor to use the second law to solve problems; but rather the ability to understand their meaning and to believe their implications. While most people know what Newton's laws say, many people do not know what they mean (or simply do not believe what they mean). Cognitive scientists (scientists who study how people learn) have shown that physics students come into physics class with a set of beliefs that they are unwilling (or not easily willing) to discard despite evidence to the contrary. These beliefs about motion (known as misconceptions) hinder further learning. The task of overcoming misconceptions involves becoming aware of the misconceptions, considering alternative conceptions or explanations, making a personal evaluation of the two competing ideas and adopting a new conception that is more reasonable than the previously held-misconception. This process involves self-reflection (to ponder your own belief systems), critical thinking (to analyze the reasonableness of two competing ideas), and evaluation (to select the most reasonable and harmonious model that explains the world of motion). Self-reflection, critical thinking, and evaluation. While this process may seem terribly complicated, it is simply a matter of using your noodle (that's your brain). The most common misconception is one that dates back for ages; it is the idea that sustaining motion requires a continued force. The misconception has already been discussed in a previous lesson, but will now be discussed in more detail. This misconception sticks out its ugly head in a number of different ways and at a number of different times. As your read through the following discussion, give careful attention to your own belief systems. View physics as a system of thinking about the world rather than information that can be dumped into your brain without evaluating its consistency with your own belief systems. Newton's laws declare loudly that a net force (an unbalanced force) causes an acceleration; the acceleration is in the same direction as the net force. To test your own belief system, consider the following question and its answer as seen by clicking the button.

Are You Infected with the Misconception?

Two students are discussing their physics homework prior to class. They are discussing an object that is being acted upon by two individual forces (both in a vertical direction); the free-body diagram for the particular object is shown at the right. During the discussion, Anna Litical suggests to Noah Formula that the object under discussion could be moving. In fact, Anna suggests that if friction and air resistance could be ignored (because of their negligible size), the object could be moving in a horizontal direction. According to Anna, an object experiencing forces as described at the right could be experiencing a horizontal motion as described below.

Noah Formula objects, arguing that the object could not have any horizontal motion if there are only vertical forces acting upon it. Noah claims that the object must be at rest, perhaps on a table or floor. After all, says Noah, an object experiencing a balance of forces will be at rest. Who do you agree with? Remember last winter when you went sledding down the hill and across the level surface at the local park? (Apologies are extended to those who live in warmer winter climates.)

Imagine a the moment that there was no friction along the level surface from point B to point C and that there was no air resistance to impede your motion. How far would your sled travel? And what would its motion be like? Most students I've talked to quickly answer: the sled would travel forever at constant speed. Without friction or air resistance to slow it down, the sled would continue in motion with the same speed and in the same direction. The forces acting upon the sled from point B to point C would be the normal force (the snow pushes up on the sled) and the gravity force (see diagram at right). These forces are balanced and since the sled is already in motion at point B it will continue in motion with the same speed and direction. So, as in the case of the sled and as in the case of the object that Noah and Anna are discussing, an object can be moving to the right even if the only forces acting upon the object are vertical forces. Forces do not cause motion; forces cause accelerations.

Newton's first law of motion declares that a force is not needed to keep an object in motion. Slide a book across a table and watch it slide to a rest position. The book in motion on the table top does not come to a rest position because of the absence of a force; rather it is the presence of a force - that force being the force of friction - that brings the book to a rest position. In the absence of a force of friction, the book would continue in motion with the same speed and direction - forever (or at least to the end of the table top)! A force is not required to keep a moving book in motion; and a force is not required to keep a moving sled in motion; and a force is not required to keep any object horizontally moving object in motion. To read more about this misconception, return to an earlier lesson.

Common relativity misconceptions #1: Newton's laws

Hi all, I've decided to start threads on what I consider to be the main misconceptions that many, if not most, people have about relativity. Some, if not all, of these may surprise you, so we should have some lively discussion that we all might gain insights from. Misconception #1) The laws of relativity replace supercede Newton's laws of motion (not gravity), as the latter are no longer valid. This is false, if looked at from a particular perspective. That is the perspective that Newton's laws are expressed in the reference frame of an observer who is both at the same location and moving at the same speed as the object whose motion is under consideration. When you do that, Newton's laws tell you the acceleration of an object with v=0, and nothing in relativity alters that one iota (again, I'm not talking about Newton's theory of gravity, which is not accurate for strong gravity). So from whence comes this idea that relativity alters Newton's laws? Because often Newton's laws are thought of as more than just rules for acceleration of local objects with v=0, they are thought of as those laws with the additional inclusion of Galilean relativity to extend to any other reference frame of an observer. But that's not Newton, it's Newton + Galileo, and it is only the "+ Galileo" part that gets altered by Einstein. So I would say it is far more accurate to say that Newton's laws are preserved by relativity when restricted to the processes they are designed to treat (at the object and of the object), but Galileo's transformations of that physics into the viewpoint of arbitrarily located and moving observers are what need to be replaced. Relativity also has another crucial element, which is that not only does it provide the transformations from one reference frame to another, but it also asserts that the form of the laws of physics must be the same before and after such a transformation. Thus it does not supercede Newton's laws, it merely restricts them-- Newton's laws are so general that they would allow any kind of force you can imagine, but relativity only allows forces that behave in certain ways (such as obeying causality requirements).

Changing Misconceptions in Newton's Laws of Motion Through Playing Computer Games and Peer Interaction
This study was conducted to acquire information about students' misconceptions on Newton's laws of motion. Three major hypotheses were examined: (1) students' performance on the posttest after playing the games set in the context of a Newtonian microworld will be significantly better than their performance on the pretest; (2) performance of the students playing the games in a peer cooperative learning setting will improve significantly better than the students who play the games individually; (3) there will be a differential relationship between students with different abilities' performance on the posttest and student interactions in a cooperative learning setting measured by verbal interaction variables. Fifty-three subjects were drawn from 12th grade physics classes at two high schools located in a suburban area of the State of Connecticut. All the students had studied vector addition, Newton's laws of motion, and conservation of momentum. To test the hypotheses, some students played the computer games in a cooperative learning setting and others in an individual learning setting. A series of force and motion problems (White, 1981, 1983) was used as a pretest and a posttest. The nature of verbal interactions in the peer cooperative learning setting was also examined to find the relationship between interaction variables and achievement on the posttest. Comparisons of results were also made with the results of White's study (1981) in which the same dynamics problems were used as a pretest and a posttest. The results show that the students who played computer games in both learning settings performed better on the posttest than on the pretest. On the difference between the performance improvement of the students in two learning settings, the students of all three levels in a peer cooperative learning setting improved more than the students of each corresponding level in individual learning setting. An analysis of videotapes of student verbal interactions in the cooperative learning setting revealed that giving and receiving explanations when terminal responses were needed seemed to be detrimental to the improvement of high and low ability students. In addition, an analysis of checklist responses indicated that the students' feelings on the experiences with computer games and peer cooperative learning were overwhelmingly positive.

Newtons third law of motion

Newtons third law of motion causes problems to physicists at many levels and it is worthwhile spending a little time developing a clear approach to the concept to avoid confusion in later work. There are a number of difficulties in teaching this concept:
y y y y y

The pervasiveness of its application Misconceptions from previous experience The difficulty of a convincing demonstration Use of the concept is either trivial or mathematical. Recognizing these difficulties is half the battle; the other half is ensuring that your own understanding is sound!

Summary
y y y

Discussion: Newtons third law. (15 minutes) Demonstration: The third law. (10 minutes) Questions: For discussion or homework. (15 minutes)

Discussion: Newtons third law Ask the class to state Newtons third law. Hope that you get the archaic answer: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. If you do you can proceed to ask what that statement actually means and ask the students to give examples. This discussion is likely to reveal a number of misconceptions. Give the law in the form: If body A exerts a force on body B then body B will exert the same force on body A but the force will be in the opposite direction. This could be thought of as a law of conservation of force. Make sure that the students are clear about the following aspects of a Newtons third-law pair of forces: The two forces act on two different bodies.
y y y

Both forces are always of the same type (i.e. both gravitational, both electrostatic, etc.). The forces are equal in magnitude. The forces are opposite in direction.

The example of a book on a table is useful at this point.

Ask about the two forces acting on the book; this will often elicit the response, the weight of the book and the reaction force of the table. These forces are present but are not a Newtons thirdlaw pair they are not the same type of force, and they act on the same object. When you take away the table the weight of the book remains. There are two Newton pairs here: (i) The pull of the Earth on the book and the pull of the book on the Earth (gravitational forces) and (ii) the push of the book on the table and the push of the table on the book (contact forces). Notice that in each case removing one force makes the other vanish. The situation may be clarified with the use of a suitable diagram. It may help to draw up a table of typical Newton pair situations as shown below: Situation Satellite in orbit around Earth Body A Satellite Body B Earth Type of force gravitational

Of course, many situations involve more than one Newton pair. Demonstration: The third law A very basic demonstration but how many Newton pairs are there here? Another demonstration might be to show two bar magnets. Choose one that is stronger than the other; demonstrate this by showing that one can lift a greater iron weight than the other. Ask: If the two magnets attract one another, will one pull more strongly than the other? The answer is, no. You can feel that they pull each other equally. (This is because the force is proportional to the strength of each.)

If magnet A pulled magnet B more strongly than B pulled A, you could attach B to the front of your car and lean out, holding A in front. Your car would move effortlessly! Questions: For discussion or homework Question 1 is one of the oldest brain teasers in physics and is certainly worth discussing. If your students are competent mathematicians they will enjoy the other question, if not you may prefer to go through them with the class. Note that some students decide for themselves that Newtons Third Law is an idealized notion, and that the two forces may not be exactly equal and opposite this is wrong!

Newton's Laws of Motion

In nature there are a handful of principles and equations that govern every phenomenon that we see around us. There are the laws of thermodynamics, Maxwell's equations, those of relativity and quantum physics and Newton's laws of motion. In this Unit we will be discussing Newton's three laws of motion. In the previous units we have been discussing alot of the mathematics behind bodies moving in one-dimension and two-dimensions. You should be familar with what velocity and acceleration is, but what is behind the motion of these bodies? In the mid 1600's Sir Isaac Newton aimed to answer questions similar to this. You may be familar with the story of an apple falling on his head giving rise to his notion of gravity.

Big Ideas
Before we start into Newton's laws it is beneficial to learn a little about force. Forces are, very simply, pushes or pulls. When you pull on a rope or push open a door you are exerting a force. But there are other types of forces; gravity is a force that is dependent on the amount of mass something has, magnetic forces, frictional forces, electrical forces and a few others that we will leave till further in the year. So it is the force applied to objects, whether it be due to gravity, a magnet or somebody's hand, that we will be discussing. Now to move on to the good stuff.

Misconceptions
1. When two things, with different sizes, push against each other, the large object will apply a greater force.. 2. When you push something, the force will move along with the object. Ex. When you push a bowling ball, the force of your push goes with the ball. 3. Constant speed needs a constant force to maintain that speed.
**All of the above statements are incorrect.**

Newton's First Law - An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an outside force.
All this is saying is that an object needs something (a force) to get it to start moving. And when an object is moving it will go in a straight line with a constant speed (no acceleration) until a force acts on it. This can also be thought of in terms of an objects INERTIA, or its resistance to changes of velocity. Inertia is related to the mass of an object. The more mass an object has, the more inertia (not wanting to move) the object has. Think of big linemen in football, they do not want to move; now think of a small running back, they will move more easily. There are applications of Newton's first law all over the place, a few are listed in the table below.

Newton's Seond Law - Simply put F=ma. Force equals mass times acceleration. More
thoroughly, the acceleration of a body is directly proportional to the force that is applied to it.

There are three things that need to be remembered about the second law: 1. If there is no force applied to an object, there will be no acceleration. If F=0, then a=0. 2. The acceleration depends DIRECTLY to the overall force that is applied. Push something gently and it will accelerate slowly, push it harder and it will accelerate faster. 3. The acceleration depends INVERSLY to the objects mass. If a small massed object is pushed with some force it will accelerate faster than a high massed object pushed with the same force.

Newton's Third Law - For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. If you push
against something, it pushes right back, with the exact same force at the exact same instant. Remember that forces are vector quantities, so they are composed of a magnitude (size) and direction. The action force will push one way and the reaction force will be oriented in the opposite direction with an equal magnitude.

Notice that the force vector for the wall and the person are equal and opposite. You could label either of these forces as the "action" force, and the other would be the "reaction" force. So if the person pushing is the action, the reaction is the wall pushing the person. This doesn't have to be the case, one could say that the wall is the action force and the reaction force is the person pushing the wall.

What We Experience How It Fits Together Newton's First Law

- Books sitting on a bookshelf (no motion, no force) - A car sitting in a parking lot (no motion, no force)

How We Explain It Newton's First Law

Newton's First Law

- The things that are - Objects at rest tend to stationary need something stay at rest, while objects - A frisbee flying through to make them move. in motion will stay in the air (moving, but no straight-line motion at a accelerating force, until it constant speed (unless a - The things that are is caught) moving need something to force changes that speed or direction) get them to stop. - Mr. Pedersen sitting on his couch on a Sunday (not moving, and not going to move) - A bicycle rider coasting

down the street (moving, but no accelerating force)

Newton's Second Law Newton's Second Law

- A book resting on a table (no force) - A hockey puck sliding across the ice (no force) - Riding your bike withour pedaling (no force)

Newton's Second Law

- Gently nudging a friend (small force) - It takes more strength to lift or push heavy things - F=ma. The force applied - Shoving a friend very than it does to push or to an object is equal to the hard (large force) move light things mass multiplied by the acceleration. Greater force - If you don't push or pull means a greater - Pushing a car that has acceleration (on the same run out of gas (small the object then it keeps doing what it has been mass). mass) doing - Pushing a TRUCK that has run out of gas (large mass) - Trying to pick up a heavy box of books (large mass) - Trying to pick up a box of feather pillows (small mass)

Newton's Third Law

- Somebody pushing against a wall while stretching there calf muscles

Newton's Third Law

Newton's Third Law

- A horse pulling a buggy - Sometimes when you push or pull an object it - A truck pulling a trailor moves

- Every time object A exerts a force on object B, object B exerts a force on - Sitting in a chair A that is equal magnitude - Sometimes the object and opposite direction. It does not move does not matter how large - A book sitting on a table - Some objects are bigger one object is compared to - A softball being hit by a than the things pushing on the other. bat or caught in a glove them, some are smaller. - Kicking a football - Attaching a rope to a 5 ton elephant and trying to

pull it

What you should be able to do when finished with this unit: 1. Solve problems involving force, mass and acceleration. 2. Identify basic forces in everyday situations. 3. Identify the magnitude and direction of forces in everday situations. 4. Calculate the net force acting on an object. 5. Identify the action and reaction forces in everday situations. 6. Predict how the mass of an object will affect its change in velocity when a force is applied. 7. Compare the forces acting on objects moving with constant velocity and also changing velocity.

Newtons First Law of Motion: In his first law of motion Newton stated that all objects save their state of motion. In other words, if an object is at rest it continuous to be at rest and if it is moving it continuous to move unless a nonzero force is applied on it. What we mean by a word nonzero force? Look at the given picture to understand what we mean.

We called nonzero force net force also. As you see from the picture, if the forces acting on an object are in the same direction they are summed, If they are opposite direction we take one of them in negative direction and make calculations considering their signs and find resultant force vector. In first situation, the applied forces are opposite direction and since their magnitudes are same the net force becomes zero. In second situation, forces are in the same direction and they are also same in magnitude thus the resultant vector is the sum of them. And in the final situation forces are in the opposite direction, however, their magnitudes are different, so the resultant vector or net force has the direction of the force having larger magnitude.

After these explanations, I think net force concept is clear in your mind. Now lets turn to our main topic Newtons first law of motion in other words law of inertia. We said that, objects want to continue their state of motion whether they are at rest or in motion. If there is no net force on an object at rest than it continues to be at rest, if there is no net force on moving object, it continues to move at constant speed. Look at the given picture below. As you see, passengers move forward when the driver breaks the bus. Passengers before the brake have same velocity with bus. Thus, because of the Newtons first law, they tend

to move with same speed. However, a sudden brake which is the result of a net force make passengers move forward. This is a good example for law of inertia from daily life. We can increase the number of example. For example you all experience the change in your body when in an accelerating elevator or at a swing.