Energy, Matter, and Force

How has e=mc² affected you?

Short answer: "duck and cover." Except, in actuality (long answer:), the teachers at my elementary school never instructed us to dive under our desks. Rather, I remember sitting along the walls on the floor of inside hallways, head between knees and hands clasped firmly over head. We had to sit quietly. We were but thirty miles from the heart of the "motor city," and even I knew that our little practices were for naught. Later, during junior high school when I worked delivering our local weekly paper in the neighborhood, came the "Cuban missile crisis." I remember delivering my papers while dashing between houses, trying to keep a house between me and the direction of the Detroit skyline which we could see in the distance on a clear day. About this time I did a school presentation on the effects of atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I learned what sorts of destruction occurred in successive concentric rings out from the center of the blast. I remember that nearest the blast all that remained of one individual was the shadow he made from the fireball. Further away I remember that people had their flesh melt from them. I learned that the government of the United States chose these cities because they had been largely spared previous bombing campaigns and that "our side" wanted to gain a clearer understanding of the effects of these new weapons. I learned then that I did not understand how anyone could hate someone else so much, and I still do not understand. Those born immediately afterward, worldwide, became the first generation of humankind ever to have so much radioactive material in our very bones. This certainly contributed to hippie-dom as well as widespread revolutionary movements.

The equation itself has always fascinated me. I realize it is a way of understanding the amount of energy packed within any bit of matter, but I've always fantasized the possibilities inherent in just getting stuff to... go fast enough! Now add to the fantasy the notion that velocity itself is relative and must be in relation to something else: Our solar system has a speed in relation to the center of the Milky Way, for instance; and the Milky Way has a velocity in relation to other Galaxies. Just sitting here then am I already zooming along at a velocity equal to a high percentage of the speed of light? Certainly not in relation to the light on my desk, but it is moving "with" me, as are all of our tools for measuring it. The implications are fascinating and apparently endless.

Someone in class mentioned mass and energy as another example of yin and yang. I really liked that, particularly as we discover the various states of qi energy, from aggregate (mass) to dispersed (energy). This is an amazing and wonderful way to see the world, and Einstein's formula states it well.

How would you compare the four "forces?"

Electromagnetism includes the phenomena of light, electricity, and magnetism, which I understand in terms of electrons and simple positive and negative attractions and repulsions. Weak nuclear forces I understand in terms of electrons, ions, and other charged particles which we explore more fully through the study of chemistry. These forces help us to understand how chemical elements and the substances they "make" interact or not, and form the basis for various shampoo formulas, for instance. It is relatively easy to understand that these two forces have been shown to be two aspects of a single "electroweak force." Strong nuclear forces are explored through accelerators and the like; they enter the discussion when we try to break atoms into component parts. We are no longer discussing the cure for split ends but the desire to split atoms, to discover the structure within structure, for example. Grand unified theories speculatively combine the electroweak force and the strong nuclear force, which I will have to accept as understandable to those who understand it.

The fourth of the fab four forces is gravity, and how to combine it with the three others in a grand unified theory is still a topic of research and debate. It is interesting to me that gravity, despite being the force with which humankind was first and foremost familiar, remains the force which has been the most misunderstood and the force most difficult to unite with the others into one unified force theory.

What is the function of gravity?

Gravity is a force of attraction that exists between any two masses, any two bodies, any two particles. Gravity is the attraction that exists between all objects. It is the pre-Big Bang calling out to itself.

By realizing that a force must make an apple fall from a tree, Sir Isaac Newton (1642--1727) discovered that a force is required to change the speed or direction of movement of an object. Further, he deduced that gravitational forces exist between all objects and found that some objects required more force to move than others, specifically that the force needed to push an object at a given acceleration was proportional to the object's mass (F=ma). Newton proposed that an artificial satellite could be made to encircle the Earth, if it was given enough speed in the correct direction.

Gravity keeps the Earth in its orbit around the sun. Gravity keeps the Earth's atmosphere, oceans, and inhabitants from drifting into space. Gravity pulls the rain to the rivers, and ultimately to the sea. Gravity guides the development and growth of plants and affects the way our bones and muscles develop and function. Gravity controls the fluid in our inner ear, giving us a sense of direction and the ability to balance. The specific mechanisms used by plant and animal cells, tissues, and organs to sense gravity is not fully understood. And the role of gravity in biological functions is only partially understood. (This paragraph is from www.yorku.ca/esse/veo/earth/sub1-6-2.htm.)

Also, the proper amount of gravity keeps us from laughing too hard, too long, or too embarrassingly. But that's another story...