Learn more physics!
Q:
Hi there, I’m hoping you can settle an argument I had with my brother. Just exactly how many properties of air are there, & what are they please?
Thanks a million.
- Lesley
Canada
A:
You're kidding, right? How could you possibly expect there to be some
finite list of properties which everyone could agree on? Say you wanted
to give how much light of different frequencies air absorbed. Would you
call the absorption spectrum one property? Or would you say that it's
an infinite list of properties- specific absorption rates for an
infinite list of frequencies? etc.
This is a symptom of schooling in which teachers make up little
lists and present them as facts of nature rather than as convenient
choices of descriptions, at best.
Mike W.
(published on 10/22/2007)
Follow-up on this answer.
