Notes from here & there: essays, verses, and thoughts on science and society

(continues from Part II ) A glowing hot body and its entropy, when tied tightly together, composed an enigma, about the nature of matter. As Marie, Pierre and Roentgen, discovered radioactivity anon, Rutherford would design, an alpha-particle gun. Charges as flesh and seeds of a melon, modeling material composition, he verily shattered, by elegant demonstrations. Foils of gold showed nuclear cores, quite positive and dense, blanketed by material wispy, negative, to balance. A bold, young, patent clerk, had also arrived by 19-Oh-five, as he put forth, four ideas he had contrived. In gendanken, he'd glimpse, visions unifying space-and-time, by another he'd explain, the motion of a pollen grain. His third established equivalence, between matter and energy, while the fourth resurrected, light’s corpuscularity. The latter of these allowed Bohr, to quantize an atomic theory, so physics again could explain, matter's stability! New tools in hand, ahead raced experiments, to test n...

Stream of currents, flowing with flourish, they help me think, n' float, n' dream, each night. Sparks of ions, jump, like shoals of fish, to reach a distant shore, always in sight. Once at home, the flows must integrate, to make all-or-nothing choices, as one for the syndicate. Hey synapses, you were invisible before! Ho synapses, a pity you are not known more! Oh synapses, you are omnipresent! Ah synapses, you are eternally incessant! The vote is tallied, as just a simple sum, if you speak now, you may lose a little. Decide one must, to scream, or stay mum; still, what happens outside remains a riddle. Will you raise shields, or open your arms?  Will you see a sky azure, introspect on past qualms? Hey synapses, you were invisible before! Ho synapses, you were not known ere! Oh synapses, you are omnipresent! Ah synapses, you are eternally incessant! In a sea of chemicals, lies a truth, the tomb and womb, of all thought and desire. Of memories, aspirations, or a lust for youth,...

(... continues from Part I ) Other unexpected puzzles arose, about the nature of heat, as fire was vital, to factories and fleets. To the economically minded investors ‘twas also crucial, that all their voyages, ran unwasteful. Around the engineers and shipbuilders went questions, did engine-design have limitations? Carnot claimed fuel's nature in engines, did not matter, only did, a fire's temperature. Unequivocally he proved, it was quite very essential, that it only be measured, by a gas ideal. Rumford, Joule, et al too, had claimed temperature, was simply just, another energy measure. Only later in the journey, was there clearer recognition, that heat was merely, pure atomic motion. Efforts were futile also, for harnessing in its entirety, the sum total, of a heat-engine’s energy. A resolution to this strange riddle, would arrive in a little, from insights of things, quite electrical. Electricity, together with his twin sister, magnetism, form the backbones, of Maxwell’s fo...

Intellect awoke, after slumbering through dark ages, to fathom secrets of the universe. An avalanche sprung by mathematical insights, set a path for the future bright.  The product of an object’s mass with its acceleration, was a Force, exclaimed Newton! This extraordinary recognition would become deified, as it stood unequivocally verified.  From that simple yet powerful and potent equation, dawned numerous universal revelations. When spoken in the language of calculus it symbolized, that the laws of motion were crystallized. Claims of Kepler and Galileo, of Copernicus and Tycho  could be annulled, or compelled to follow.  Wills ordaining motion of heavens were computable, by  laws of Newtonian Gravitation universal.  All passages of seasons, of comets, too of eclipses, were merely algebraic exercises. Symbols and experiments could reveal all truths, science advanced in physics' youth!  Through demonstrations of Otto van and of Boyle, were chiseled la...

It was around lunchtime, on a weekday, and we're nearly three-four weeks into the Fall semester. In this country, that meant most everyone in a higher-ed institution as my own is busy and about, usually just trying get in and out of various venues that provide the ability, to quickly grab or carry-away a bite for lunch. Campus stores, given the so-called administrative-financial pressures have gone the same route as most commercial stores around the country, by installing machines so that the customers can check themselves out. Such ideas apparently impact efficiency - which itself is usually only vaguely defined - but I digress. Anyhow, this is not a recent or altogether strange situation and all the thousands of denizens occupying campus, had made their peace with this arrangement (in-fact many rely on these efficient, self-checkout counters to keep up with the busyness of academic, campus life). The darned things do work - or at least they do most of the time... It was there at ...