sci.physics.electromag

"Benj" wrote in message
news:8b58937b-7e5c-454c-af48-80e0b7ae1031@f47g2000hsd.googlegroups.com...
> On Mar 5, 1:06 pm, "FrediFizzx" wrote:
>
>> Sorry, but you will never ever convince me that electric and magnetic
>> "force fields" do not exist. I know from personal experience that
>> "force fields" do exist. I suspect you are getting caught up in some
>> kind of semantics game here.
>
> Glad to see you have an open mind about physics! Yes it IS semantics
> but it's NOT a "game"!
>
> Obviously force distributions in space exist about magnets and
> balloons rubbed on the cat etc.
> Forces are real as can easily be determined by observation.
>
> BUT as soon as you start calling them "force fields" the word "field"
> immediately implies a whole host of mathematical definitions. These
> things include stuff like vector addition, curl, divergence and all
> the rest. While the forces have been observed to follow field rules
> to a degree, there is no connection between mathematics and reality.
> Mathematics are self-consistent systems thought up by men. They are
> only a possible model for reality. And being models they are NOT
> reality. Therefore, to be sematically correct, one MUST say that
> "force fields do NOT exist!" Yes, it's a word "game" but if you
> intend to do science it is essential to be precise in defining exactly
> what you mean by terms. [Actually one could argue that since "thoughts
> are things" that fields do in fact have an existence, but I really
> don't want to go there! ]

Sorry, but it doesn't take any math (vector addition, curl, etc.) to try
to push the north poles of two bar magnets together and realize there is
a "force field" of some kind there. ;-) As it turns out, the math of
Maxwell fields can accurately describe that phenomenon.

Best,

Fred Diether
Co-moderator sci.physics.foundations