<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en"> <html> <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> Ok folks.... looks like I take the proverbial dive on this one... :) Suffice to say that if my own insistent querying and illustration of my (obviously erroneous) perspectives on this subject have helped prompt the discussion to its present point, then that dive has been far from for naught. I do have a couple questions tho that are rather simplistic but require a straight answer for myself, and perhaps any others who struggle with the same kinds of misconceptions. The first is the one I asked yesterday when Mark poimentenly punctured my balloon....   <blockquote TYPE=CITE> <blockquote TYPE=CITE>... then I guess what you are both saying is that given 2 actions one counterbalanced with lead to a 40 gram balance weight, and the other lead free with a resulting 60 gram balance weight... that the 60 gram action will play lighter as long as you are accelerating the keys past the 9.8 m/s^2 mark.  </blockquote> </blockquote> Secondly... I'm trying to put this idea of lead weights representing a constant force (via the gravitational accelleration constant ??) into clear view. Its easy enough to see that a whippen spring does  X amount of work... say 10 grams and does no more no matter how hard you hit the key. But I'm having a hard time digesting how the key leads can behave in the same or similar constant fashion. With the present explaintion on the  board... it would seem that as the keys accelleration gets closer to 9.8 m/s^2 then the counterbalancing effect of the lead gets gradually lessened, then becomes 0, and then becomes a load in itself actually increasing the <<heavyness>>  [or force needed to accellerate further].  Doesnt that qualify as affecting the inertial response of the whole thing, and isnt that gradual change rather propotional to the velocity of the lead (and the rest of the key mass ?) Re worded... The spring does x-grams of lifting...period. The gravitational constant stays constant.. period... but the <<weight>> of the lead changes with its velocity, and thereby, it would seem to me, its counterbalancing effect would also change with velocity. Then... how does that compare with the affect of the spring... which dissapears first.. quickest.. If you were to graph this in terms of  Force (finger on the key) against Accelleration of the key... how would the two compare ? For those of you who've studied physics and have a very good working familiarity with all this... these questions may or may not seem self explanitory. Please remember then that there are a lot of readers at various stages in their pursuit of understanding these things that have similiar questions. And over to something completely different... Sarah especially, Mark too... I would like to thank for leading me through this discussion in the exemplary fashion you did. Patiently, respectfully, and always with a clear twinkle of humour in your words you took the time to find misconception and straighten it out. Would that all with so much to give, would learn to offer their help in such fine manner. Cheers and Thanks RicB   Grin... but I am still going to run that little experiement .... ! -- Richard Brekne RPT, N.P.T.F. UiB, Bergen, Norway <A HREF="mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no">mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no</A> <A HREF="http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html">http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html</A> <A HREF="http://www.hf.uib.no/grieg/personer/cv_RB.html">http://www.hf.uib.no/grieg/personer/cv_RB.html</A>   </body> </html>