We're almost all in agreement. Just a few more details ;-) John says: > Nick says: > > As long as you move the paddle parallel to the direction of motion > > > desired all the force applied will go directly to propelling the > > > boat. > > Nick is right although I doubt if anyone actually accomplishes this > regularly. I suspect Nick mentioned this elsewhere as I recall him > discussing it some time back. > There's still an error here. You can't assume all force applied goes into forward movement of the boat. No paddle or propellor is 100% efficient at turning effort into forward motion, and indeed, John in the following paragraph quotes a study stating that racing paddles are 87% efficient which contradicts the prior claim. As for the discussion of Popper and falsifiability: John said: > Karl Popper has shown that a scientific theory must be presented in such a > way as to provide a test for the theory's falsity. If you cannot test for > falsity then the theory is not a scientific theory. > I think that's a little off base. Popper "proved" no such thing. Popper developed a theory of falsifiability in an attempt to rescue the sort of program the positivists were attempting in constructing a theory of truth. But Popper's falsifiability is a philosophical stance, not a proof of anything. And it's getting a little far afield. Still, it's an interesting diversion from our usual topics ;-) -- ------------------------- Michael Edelman mje_at_spamcop.net http://www.foldingkayaks.org http://www.findascope.com *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Thu May 17 2001 - 18:46:14 PDT
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