Day 5: Shapes and Plasma
“Shape” is defined as the external form or appearance characteristic of someone or something. Undeniably, shape has an underlying theme throughout science as reoccurring structures can be found in the unlikeliest places. The spherical shape of the atom’s orbit to the solar system’s orbit, the universe is held together by a complex fabric of the cosmos, warped by the forces of gravity and the ripples that govern motion.
While the fates of the shapes may seem determinable by the equations of math, the destruction of the sun still remains under speculation. On one hand, Newton’s theory dictated that the planet would swerve off course with the destruction of the sun. While on the other, Einstein’s theory is that as light travels faster than gravity so earth would experience darkness before spiraling into darkness. (To the Right: visual representation of the cosmos’ fabric).
The most intricate and beautiful structures are those that are naked to the eye as if enticing the scientist and artist to venture into the furthest depths to discover these shapes. The proteins that embed the surface of a cell and the intricate atoms that the membranes consist of create a symbiotic intricacy unknown to man. Another instance in which shape has the ability to have a drastic impact on the matter is in opal.
The refraction of light on the opal’s surface determined by its nanoparticle composition dictates the colorful sheen that it radiates. (To the right: an opal).
After the lecture, we went to a plasma lab where observed a basement of powers that could not be found in nature. It was fascinating to understand that we were seeing something that no man had seen yet until now, and that man had the ability to create something so powerful that it could shoot out electron particles at a billionth of a second.
Plasma Lab
Links
http://www.physics.ucla.edu/plasma-exp/
http://www.cwjewelers.com/stoneopal.htm
http://www.curledup.com/fabricof.htm
http://shodor.org/UNChem/basic/atom/index.html
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Jewelry-Gems-Minerals-689/opal-colors.htm