Hi,

I am a physics student with a physical disability that limits my motor
skills. I am wondering if there are any alternatives to the right hand rule.
I understand the the principle, but my motor skills make it difficult to
carry out. Any help would be appreciated..

Thanks.

David Moran

David Moran wrote:

Hi,

I am a physics student with a physical disability that limits my motor
skills. I am wondering if there are any alternatives to the right hand rule.
I understand the the principle, but my motor skills make it difficult to
carry out. Any help would be appreciated..


Too bad you can't just visualize the right hand rule outcome with your brain...
Too bad, indeed! Reminds me of space**** and tj...

"Sam Wormley" wrote in message
...
David Moran wrote:

Hi,

I am a physics student with a physical disability that limits my
motor
skills. I am wondering if there are any alternatives to the right hand
rule.
I understand the the principle, but my motor skills make it difficult to
carry out. Any help would be appreciated..

Too bad you can't just visualize the right hand rule outcome with your
brain...
Too bad, indeed! Reminds me of space**** and tj...

It appears that "Sam Wormley" does not know
that brain mapping shows that
the tongue, the eyes, and the hands
consume much (most?) of the resources of the brain,
and that the interplay between these elements
is critical to learning and thinking.

I suggest that he do a Google search on
("brain mapping" hand), and take a look
at the URL below, which talks about how
a man's brain reacted to transplants of both hands.

http://www.brainland.com/indiv_news.cfm?ID=346

I also suggest that "Sam Wormley"
should take a look at URL

http://www.mathematicalbrain.com/sept03/tel02.html

which points out the relationship between maths and finger counting
and states, among other things:

"Intriguingly, the precise region in the parietal lobes
where this skill (MATHS) resides - the "intraparietal sulcus" - also
controls finger movement.
It is no accident that finger counting is an almost universal stage in the
child's learning of arithmetic
(though it is unclear where one ancient New Guinea culture fits in -
it has a 33 base system, which includes toes, testicles and penis, said Prof
Butterworth)."

--
Tom Potter http://tompotter.us

I told sam to place his right thumb in the direction you want to go with
the nut or bolt and your fingers point the way to turn,,on right hand
threds ,,
Im shure glad Ill be in kingston tomarrow.
then fly to brazil , buy 100,000 acres for $ 20 bucks each then back to
kingston back on the big boat 2 ad to the pannama canal ,,at least this
bot fits threw the pannama ,,we had to grease the old on and force it
threw

On Fri, 24 Oct 2003 21:38:11 -0500, David Moran wrote:
Hi,

I am a physics student with a physical disability that limits my motor
skills. I am wondering if there are any alternatives to the right hand rule.
I understand the the principle, but my motor skills make it difficult to
carry out. Any help would be appreciated..

You might try Timo's attempt to help me with the right hand rule a few
days ago in the thread titled " Vectors". There are a lot of comments
on the same topic in that thread.


--
- Laurel * * * http://amberdine.com

On Sat, 25 Oct 2003, Laurel Amberdine wrote:

On Fri, 24 Oct 2003 21:38:11 -0500, David Moran wrote:
Hi,

I am a physics student with a physical disability that limits my motor
skills. I am wondering if there are any alternatives to the right hand rule.
I understand the the principle, but my motor skills make it difficult to
carry out. Any help would be appreciated..

You might try Timo's attempt to help me with the right hand rule a few
days ago in the thread titled " Vectors". There are a lot of comments
on the same topic in that thread.

Which was simply:

just with your right hand in an open relaxed state, find the direction of
a vector cross-product by:

thumb x fingers = out from palm.

All of the various right-hand rules relate to that order of three
driections: thumb, fingers, palm. If your motor skills are such that you
can't easily move your hand into a suitable position, next easiest might
just be to memorise the simple combinations for diagrams on a sheet of
paper:

right x up = towards you
left x up = away

and any other combination of vectors in the same plane as the paper, just
rotate this

Then:

right x away = up
left x away = down

etc

If you can rotate the directions around mentally, it's much easier, you
don't need to move your right hand at all; just remember the magic order:

thumb x fingers = palm.

This, by the way, is why the usual xyz Cartesian coordinate system is
called right-handed, x, y, z are in the thumb, finger, palm directions.

(I see that most 6-sided dice are right-handed, but I see occasional
left-handed dice. Is there an official standard, and how does it describe
the handedness of dice? Is this just a modern thing - ie were ancient
dice "ambidextrous"?)

--
Timo Nieminen - Home page: http://www.physics.uq.edu.au/people/nieminen/
Shrine to Spirits: http://www.users.bigpond.com/timo_nieminen/spirits.html

"tj Frazir" wrote in message
...
I.. .. ..

...need a life
--tj

"Tom Potter" wrote in message ...

"Sam Wormley" wrote in message
...
David Moran wrote:

Hi,

I am a physics student with a physical disability that limits my
motor
skills. I am wondering if there are any alternatives to the right hand
rule.
I understand the the principle, but my motor skills make it difficult to
carry out. Any help would be appreciated..

Too bad you can't just visualize the right hand rule outcome with your
brain...
Too bad, indeed! Reminds me of space**** and tj...

I had my suspicions about this post too. A motor disabled physics
student should be able to find some work-around -- if he/she has any
hope of using physics in the first place. Of course the chance that
the question is sincere places a large negative weight on voicing this
horrible suspicion of being put upon.

One thinks of the modified "right arm rule", requiring less fine motor
skills: one rotates one's right arm from a position outstretched at
one's side to one's front, and one's head points in the desired
direction. Actually, anytime I -- infrequently -- find myself
actually trying to check the sign in some calculation involving cross
products, I do find myself muttering and contorting my right hand in
strange configuration and orientations: it's important for the process
that one's hand be oriented in space the same way as the visualized
vectors.

It appears that "Sam Wormley" does not know
that brain mapping shows that
the tongue, the eyes, and the hands
consume much (most?) of the resources of the brain,
and that the interplay between these elements
is critical to learning and thinking.

Hmm... I also find that, ahem, moving my tongue (vulgarly called
"talking to oneself), is a great aid in solving complex problems. In
fact, for the very hardest problems, one must both walk around,
gesticulate, and mutter to engage the full brain faculties. I guess
that's what that possibly apocryphal Einstein quote was about: lack of
privacy and inhibition prevent the gesticulation and muttering
approach to most problems, hence inhibit full brain function.
....

It is no accident that finger counting is an almost universal stage in the
child's learning of arithmetic
(though it is unclear where one ancient New Guinea culture fits in -
it has a 33 base system, which includes toes, testicles and penis, said Prof
Butterworth)."

ROTFL, even if you made that up! Imagine the embarassment when first
doing business with this culture, and your contact begins counting on
his genitals. Can women count too in this society?

Then there is the peculiar idiom "to count coup", which I think
basically means to beat: that's counting on somebody else's head --
perhaps also the origin of the expression "thinking makes my head
hurt".

"Edward Green" wrote in message
om...
"Tom Potter" wrote in message
...

"Sam Wormley" wrote in message
...
David Moran wrote:

Hi,

I am a physics student with a physical disability that limits my
motor
skills. I am wondering if there are any alternatives to the right
hand
rule.
I understand the the principle, but my motor skills make it
difficult to
carry out. Any help would be appreciated..

Too bad you can't just visualize the right hand rule outcome with your
brain...
Too bad, indeed! Reminds me of space**** and tj...

I had my suspicions about this post too. A motor disabled physics
student should be able to find some work-around -- if he/she has any
hope of using physics in the first place. Of course the chance that
the question is sincere places a large negative weight on voicing this
horrible suspicion of being put upon.


I have read about the Crips and understand that you should
not mess with them. I believe that one could take advantage
of CPT symmetry and work something out with the left hand.

"Edward Green" wrote in message
om...
"Tom Potter" wrote in message
...


It is no accident that finger counting is an almost universal stage in
the
child's learning of arithmetic
(though it is unclear where one ancient New Guinea culture fits in -
it has a 33 base system, which includes toes, testicles and penis, said
Prof
Butterworth)."

ROTFL, even if you made that up! Imagine the embarassment when first
doing business with this culture, and your contact begins counting on
his genitals. Can women count too in this society?


Not only would women count, mathematics would be this societies oldest
profession.