Heat
There is a reason Physics gets a bad rap – here is an example from Wikipedia on the definition of HEAT:
In thermodynamics, heat is energy in transfer to or from a thermodynamic system, by mechanisms other than thermodynamic work or transfer of matter…
The quantity of energy transferred as heat in a process is the amount of transferred energy excluding any thermodynamic work that was done and any energy contained in matter transferred. For the precise definition of heat, it is necessary that it occur by a path that does not include transfer of matter…
Ugh! Are you still with me? Fortunately, there are great physic communicators that can make physics come alive. I recently read Seven Brief Lessons on Physics by Carlo Rovelli, in which one of the lessons addressed HEAT. Carlo distilled this complex topic to a very understandable level, with some life changing analogies (at least for me!).
Carlos said that Ludwig Boltzmann, in around 1900, conveyed that HEAT is atoms moving quickly while COLD is atoms moving slowly and that HEAT is transferred from hot objects to cold objects by CHANCE. Wow! At the time this was regarded as absurd and on September 5, 1906 Ludwig Boltzmann hanged himself – BEFORE his concepts were validated! So – what are some of the life lessons?
RISK being ABSURD!
“Ludwig Boltzmann is generally acknowledged as one of the most important physicists of the nineteenth century. Particularly famous is his statistical explanation of the second law of thermodynamics” says Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Boltzmann ushed in the field of statistical physics. Once considered absurd, his boldness changed our understanding of the world.
The lesson for me is having the guts, the courage to take a stand! Thoreau said, “most men live lives of quiet desperation and go to their grave with their song still in them.” Joan Baez, famous folk singer and activitist said, “You don't get to choose how you're going to die or when. But you can decide how you're going to live now.”
PERSEVERENCE
Boltzmann had the courage to utter the “absurd” but unfortunately not the perseverance to witness the impact his ideas would have on the world.
Confucius said, “The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.”
Abraham Lincoln said, “I am a slow walker, but I never walk back.”
I like the last stanza of the Thinking poem by Walter D. Wintle:
Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger or faster man;
But sooner or later the person who wins
Is the one who thinks he can!
The LAW of ATTRACTION
Carlos, in the Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, says heat transfers from HOT objects to COLD objects by probability. Quickly moving atoms (HOT) have a higher probability of colliding with slower moving atoms (COLD), leaving a bit of its energy on the COLD object.
For me, my happiness follows a similar pattern. If I surround myself with positive people, I tend to absorb their positiveness, their optimism, their energy. If I surround myself with negative people – those focused on negativity, worry and dread – my energy is drained and I too become negative-minded.
CONCLUSIONS: I will carry-on the HEAT lessons learned. I will risk uttering the “absurd.” I will persevere. I will surround myself with positive-minded people and absorb their energy.