ABSTRACT
Despite recent advances, the Fundamental Paradox of Thought Experiments continues to challenge us: How can findings that carry conviction result from a new experiment conducted entirely within the head? The data base for this study comes from ten professors and advanced graduate students in scientific fields who were recorded while thinking aloud about the following spring problem:
A weight is hung on a spring. The original spring is replaced with a spring made of the same kind of wire, with the same number of coils, but with coils that are twice as wide in diameter. Will the spring stretch from its natural length more, less, or the same amount under the same weight? (Assume the mass of the spring is negligible.) Why do you think so?
