Hewitt and circular motion

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From: Marc Afifi (marc_afifi@yahoo.com)
Date: Thu Dec 09 1999 - 21:21:56 PST 

Message-ID: <19991210052156.17553.qmail@web206.mail.yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, 9 Dec 1999 21:21:56 -0800 (PST)
From: Marc Afifi <marc_afifi@yahoo.com>
Subject: Hewitt and circular motion

Is it the English again?

In a concept development exercise from Conceptual
Physics (14-1 in 2nd edition, 12-1 in 1st edition), a
question arises whether work is done on the moon as it
orbits the Earth. The answer given is that no work is
done. Can somebody give me an easy explanation? If
there were no force of gravity the moon would not be
in orbit, so work must be done, mustn't it? The
distance that the moon travels perpendicular to the
force is equal to the distance the moon falls due to
the force so the moon stays in orbit, and thus there
is a force through a distance which is physical work,
n'est ce pas? Either I am musunderstanding the
physical definition of work or I must be daft.

-Marc

=====
Marc Afifi
Chemistry, Physics, Marine Science
Pacific Grove High School
Pacific Grove, CA

http://www.pghs.org/staff/afifi/d5hp.html
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