Re: pinhole is electricity considered to be matter?

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From: Marc Kossover (zeke_kossover@yahoo.com)
Date: Fri Sep 17 2004 - 14:53:44 PDT 

Message-ID: <20040917215344.34522.qmail@web53401.mail.yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 17 Sep 2004 14:53:44 -0700 (PDT)
From: Marc Kossover <zeke_kossover@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: pinhole is electricity considered to be matter?

--- Geoff Ruth <grgrutheleadershiphighrorgasked:

> Is electricity considered to be matter?
> Some of my students asked me this question, and I'm
> not sure of the answer.

No. Well probably, not. The confusion is what a person
means by "electricity".

When most people use "electricity", they mean the
process by which electrical energy gets from a
generating source like a power station or a battery to
something that uses that power like a light bulb or a
motor. In that sense electricity is not matter since
it isn't even a thing, rather it is a name that
describes a process.

English is riddled with processes that are given
names. These processes get the same grammatical
construction as things, and so naturally people often
become confused. For example, sound isn't a thing.
Sound is the process by which a displacement is
propagated through a medium. (Even that statement
rereifiesound more than I would like). Students are
often wonder if sound can collide or where does the
sound come from in a speaker. Does sound come through
the wires?

On the other hand, "electricity" sometimes refers to
electrons, and they of course are matter.

However, some people are rereferringo what runs
through the wires as elelectricityand that isn't
electrons in alternating current. In AC the electrons
don't really go anywhere.

Bill BeBeatyas excellent discussion of what is
elelectrictyn his electricity misconceptions page.
<hthttp/amamasciom/mimisconhwhatisthtml

Marc "Zeke" KoKossoverThe Jewish Community High School
of the Bay
SaSanrancisco, CA

        
                
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