Abstract
It is generally accepted nowadays that History and Philosophy of Science (HPS) is useful in understanding scientific concepts, theories and even some experiments. Problem-solving strategies are a significant topic, since students’ careers depend on their skill to solve problems. These are the reasons for addressing the question of whether problem solving could be improved by means of HPS. Three typical problems in introductory courses of mechanics—the inclined plane, the simple pendulum and the Atwood machine—are taken as the object of the present study. The solving strategies of these problems in the eighteenth and nineteenth century constitute the historical component of the study. Its philosophical component stems from the foundations of mechanics research literature. The use of HPS leads us to see those problems in a different way. These different ways can be tested, for which experiments are proposed. The traditional solving strategies for the incline and pendulum problems are adequate for some situations but not in general. The recourse to apparent weights in the Atwood machine problem leads us to a new insight and a solving strategy for composed Atwood machines. Educational implications also concern the development of logical thinking by means of the variety of lines of thought provided by HPS.
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Notes
The incline, pendulum and Atwood machine problems are dealt with in a very similar way in contemporary textbooks (see for example Alonso and Finn 1992; Cutnell and Johnson 1992; Knudsen and Hjorth 1996; Daniel 1997; Young, Freedman and Sears 2004; Nolting 2005; Faughn et al. 2006; Fließbach 2007; Greiner 2008; Kuypers 2010). Hence, to take a problem from a textbook is not to make of it a particular problem.
This equation is usually called ‘Newton’s second law’. However, it does not appear anywhere in Newton’s Principia (Newton 1972 [1726]). Moreover, Euler (1750) presented this equation as a new principle of mechanics. On the other hand, historians of science do not agree with each other concerning an equation for Newton’s second law (Maltese 1992, p. 26).
Helmholtz (1911) had already pointed out that “nothing can be stated about force, which is not already known from acceleration” (“Man kann daher von der Kraft nichts aussagen, was man nicht bereits von der Beschleunigung weiss”) (Helmholtz 1911, p. 24). Bergmann and Schaefer (1998) also express a similar point of view: “acceleration is the only sign we have for force” (Bergmann and Schaefer 1998, p. 114).
“From the point D draw DE parallel to AB, and take DE to represent the force of gravity; from E draw EF perpendicular to AC. Then the whole force DE is equivalent to the two DF, FE, of which FE is perpendicular to the plane, and consequently, is supported by the plane’s reaction (Art. 116); the other force DF, not being affected by the plane, is wholly employed in accelerating or retarding the motion of the body in the direction of the plane; therefore, the accelerating force: the force of gravity :: DF : DE :: ([…]) AB : AC” (Wood 1796, p. 147).
Similar presentation of the problem can be found in Gravesande (1747, pp. 56–57), Rutherforth (1748, pp. 106–108), Rowning (1779, pp. 28–29), Helsham (1793, p. 148 et seq.), Adams (1794, pp. 154–157), Emerson (1800, p. 45 et seq.). Some authors show the connection between free falling and incline through the terminology: the accelerating force on the incline is called ‘relative gravity’ and the accelerating force in free falling ‘absolute gravity’ (see for example Desaguliers 1719, p. 21 and Adams 1794, p. 157).
See for example Lodge (1885, p. 135) and Crew (1900, pp. 81–82). Lommel uses the common representation at that time as well as the currently common one. Using g′ for the acceleration on the incline, he writes \( g^{\prime} = g\frac{h}{l} = g\sin a \) (Lommel 1899, p. 33). In this form, these two equations can still be found nowadays (Bergmann and Schaefer 1998, p. 103).
Kater and Lardner use the parallelogram of forces to deal with the incline problem (Kater and Lardner 1830, p. 93 et seq.); Avery (1885, p. 59) speaks of force and uses the same geometrical strategy as those who speak of acceleration; Lommel (1899, pp. 32–33) solves the incline problem as an application of the parallelogram of forces; Henderson and Woodhull (1901, pp. 81–83) presents two methods of solving the problem: virtual velocities and decomposition of weight. On incline experiments in textbooks, see Turner (2012).
The connection between inclined plane and pendulum problems in textbooks of the early eighteenth century is addressed by Gauld (2004, pp. 322–330).
“a Body acquires the same Velocity, in falling from a certain Height, whether it falls directly or comes down along an inclin’d Plane. But a Body may also run down along several Planes differently inclin’d, and even along a Curve ([…]) and the Celerity will be the same when the Height is equal” (Gravesande 1747, p. 86, § 393). In the case that a body runs down along several planes the following remark is made: “we must observe, that the passing from one Plane to another must be without a Shock, for by it the Velocity of the Body would be diminished” (Gravesande 1747, p. 86, § 394).
Similar approaches can be found in Rutherforth (1748, pp. 117–125), Gibson (1755, pp. 54–59), Rowning (1779, pp. 43–44, see also p. 31), Helsham (1793, pp. 153–154, 161), Adams (1794, pp. 206–213), Emerson (1800, p. 45 et seq.), Kater and Lardner (1830, pp. 145–159).
This equation is also similar to that of the incline. Authors presented the following sequence in justifying the pendulum: free falling, inclined plane and pendulum. In all these cases, height is what matters. Similar results based on the same approach or on a slightly different one can be found towards the end of the nineteenth century. The presentation of the results concerning the pendulum by equations represents the main difference between textbooks of this time and earlier ones (see for example Adams 1794; Kater and Lardner 1830; Lommel 1899; Henderson and Woodhull 1901).
Poggendorff’s paper was also published in the Annalen der Physik und Chemie, 1854. Neither in this nor in the 1853 paper is there any picture of the apparatus described. Mach’s picture agrees with the description of the instrument given by Poggendorff (1854, pp. 181–182).
Atwood’s machine was used to determine local acceleration. In order to achieve this goal, the acceleration of the bodies in the machine was determined. For this, the machine was equipped with a ruler and a clock. Later on, local acceleration was determined by other means and the machine appeared in a simplified form (Kater and Lardner 1830, plate to p. 104; Lodge 1885, p. 69). This was however not general in the nineteenth century (see Avery 1885, pp. 59–62).
Bueche and Jerde, for instance, write: “The two masses […] are tied to opposite ends of a massless rope, and the rope is hung over a massless and frictionless pulley”. They explain: “We specify that the rope and pulley be massless so that we can neglect their inertias. Because the pulley is both massless and frictionless, the tension in the rope is the same on both sides of the pulley” (Bueche and Jerde 1995, p. 85). Serway and Jewett write: “In problems such as this in which the pulley is modeled as massless and frictionless, the tension in the string on both sides of the pulley is the same” (Serway and Jewett 2004, p. 129).
The equality of tensions T 1 and T 2 can be justified by the apparent weights. In comparing Eqs. (12) and (13) with Eqs. (5) and (6), it follows that \( T_{1} = W^{\prime}_{m} \) and \( T_{2} = W^{\prime}_{M} \). Therefore, if \( W^{\prime}_{m} = W^{\prime}_{M} \), then \( T_{1} = T_{2} \).
See for example Galili and Bar (1992), Galili (1993, 1995, 2001), Bliss and Ogborn (1994), Hijs and Bosch (1995), Jammer (1997 [1961], 1999 [1957], 2001), Carson and Rowlands (2005), Roche (2005), Hecht (2006), Rowlands et al. (2007), Gönen 2008, Coelho (2010, 2012) and Kalman (2011a). Discussion on the concepts of mass and weight also appears in textbooks. See for instance French (1971), Kleppner and Kolenkow (1976), Hestenes (1987), Halliday et al. (1993), Ohanian (1994) and Greiner (2008).
"Quand on dit que la force est la cause d'un mouvement, on fait de la métaphysique, et cette définition, si on devait s'en contenter, serait absolument stérile. Pour qu'une définition puisse servir à quelque chose, il faut qu'elle nous apprenne à mesurer la force; cela suffit d'ailleurs, il n'est nullement nécessaire qu'elle nous apprenne ce que c'est que la force en soi, ni si elle est la cause ou l'effet du mouvement" (Poincaré 1897, p. 734). This passage also appears in Poincaré’s Science and Hypothesis (Poincaré 1952, p. 98).
In a very recent paper, Ha et al. (2012) pointed out the problem: “Most science senior-level teaching consists of transmitting de-contextualized abstract knowledge along with a ‘‘template’’ (solely numerical) problem-solving approach. Only one dominant interpretation of nature is presented, which comes from the instructor and the textbook” (Ha et al. 2012, p. 2).
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Coelho, R.L. Could HPS Improve Problem-Solving?. Sci & Educ 22, 1043–1068 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191-012-9521-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191-012-9521-1