Water On A Stove

This is a video of a pan of water that was boiling potatoes, but is now cooling. THERMODYNAMICS. When the water was warming up and boiling, heat from the stove was transferred to the water, causing its kinetic energy of the water molecules to increase. Therefore, its temperature increased as well since temperature is a measure of the average kinetic energy. When my dad was done cooking the potatoes, he turned off the stove, and the water started cooling because heat flows spontaneously from hot things to cold things. Since the stove was turned off, there was no more heat source, so as heat moved from the hot water to the cooler air, it was not replaced. Over time, the temperature of the water will cool until it is the same temperature as the surrounding air.

Take Two

So this is my dog again. A few months ago, I tried to make a video of my dog and me playing catch, but she refused to run after the rope. This time however, I met with success. I am so incredibly proud of this video because my dog not only runs after her toy, but she also brings it back! This is unbelievable improvement, because she usually either does not run after it, or she does but then runs away with it. This is a rare moment indeed, and I am so glad that I caught it on video :) Anyway, the rope's path from leaving my hand to landing on the ground displays projectile motion, and then when I am attempting to tug the rope out of Kiki's mouth, she pulls with a certain amount of force, and I have to pull with an equal or greater, but opposite, force. Over time, the rope begins to break because the amount of force that her teeth and my pulling exerts on the fibers starts to tear them apart.

An Effusion of Fuzz

This is a video of my dog completing the destruction of her squeaky toy that she got for christmas. After leaving her stocking, the toy lasted all of about ten minutes. As you can see, she applied a force to the toy with her teeth, thus breaking it apart. While she was pulling it in one direction with her teeth, she held it down at the same time with her paws to create tension in the toy, allowing her to rip it apart. She finished off by proceeding to extricate all of the fuzz from the innards of the bone. Quite a bit of fuzz was stuffed into that toy. It simply amazed me. Afterwards, I had to immediately throw the fuzz away otherwise she would eat it. This would have been a problem because the friction between the fuzz and the walls of her throat probably would have made her choke. Oh and of course fuzz should not be ingested. Now i feel like writing, "warning, do not try this at home."

Thermodynamics: Ice Pack!

This is a video of my freezer and an ice pack inside. Last week, my back was feeling sore for some reason, so I alleviated the pain by icing it. Ice is cold, so when you apply it to a sore spot, it makes it feel better. However, unlike what I used to think in my less enlightened days, your skin does not become cold because the coolness of the ice pack seeps into your skin. No, on the contrary, it is quite the opposite. Energy flows from the object with the higher temperature to the object with the lower temperature, and this energy is called heat. Our book defines heat as thermal energy transferred between objects because of a difference in their temperatures. This means that the heat from my body flowed from my body to the ice pack. This loss of heat is the reason why my back became cold. At the same time, the ice pack gained heat, which is why it became warm after a while. My back would have a negative Q value and the ice pack would have a positive Q value. When the ice pack became warm, I stuck it back in the freezer where it could lose its heat to the surrounding cold and become cold again too.

I'm sure someone has said to all of us at least once in our lives, "Don't leave the freezer (or refrigerator) door open for too long because you'll let all the cold air out!" Thanks to our study of thermodynamics, now we all know that this remark is not true. The cold air does not leave the freezer or refrigerator. Instead, all the warm air flows into the freezer or refrigerator since energy flows from the object with the higher temperature to the object with the lower temperature. When you think about this, it makes sense because air with a higher temperature has faster moving molecules, which means that these air molecules would be the ones to travel into a new place, therefore increasing the energy in the new place. The slower moving molecules in the freezer or refrigerator would not have enough energy to travel out into the kitchen.

The World Is Flat

Talk about information overload! Every single page of this book is packed with information, concepts, and ideas. I feel like I would have appreciated this book more if I had had the time to read it more slowly. Then again, I am not going to lie, Doc; I did skip over some pages because it was just so much. I would have preferred reading this over a long period of time, say ten to twenty pages a day, and then mulling over Friedman’s words. I am definitely a mull-er. I need time to think about everything. While I do love reading, my preferred genre is fiction, so I usually do not read non-fiction books such as this one. Nevertheless, this book was quite interesting and slightly alarming. Not to mention, I also learned about many new words, concepts, and ideas and had a brief history review session as well.

A few days ago, I found myself sitting in the social security office in the federal building downtown. I noticed a sign on the wall that said SSA’s Tele- Service Center. It invited people with any questions about social security to phone a certain number and speak to an expert. Suddenly, I found myself wondering if the experts on the other end of the line were even in this country. Maybe they were actually sitting at desks in Bangalore, India. Then again, because the questions would be concerning social security, that might be kind of sketchy to have people from other countries answering them. That is beside the point though, because before reading The World Is Flat, this thought never would have even crossed my mind. As I sat staring at the sign, I made a mental note to include that moment in my response because it is a testament to how much this book has already influenced my thoughts.

Reading The World Is Flat has taught me so much from what www and http stand for to why our world is now “flat.” Now I can sound really smart if anyone ever says to me, “What does www and http stand for?” Moving on to another topic, at one point in the book Friedman describes how the mayor of some Chinese city said that currently, the Americans are the architects and designers, and the developing countries, such as China, are the bricklayers. This made me wonder; What happens when the roles are reversed and countries such as China are the architects? What will the United States be? Obsolete? And when will this happen, because in my opinion, unless things really change within the next few years, this is inevitable. The United States has been on the top for so long, so I wonder what will happen when that changes.

A few months ago as I was listening to NPR on the way to school with my mom, I heard an interesting story about China and the United States, and reading this book reminded me of it. The Chinese man being interviewed said that he believed that the United States has three big advantages over all the other countries in the world: A stable democratic government, a high level of education available to all, and I think the last was connectivity between all areas of the nation. However, if the media did not make it obvious enough, this book provides ample evidence that China is quickly catching up and might soon pass the United States. It is quite frightening, the rate at which China is modernizing and adapting to today’s world. I think China’s greatest strength is its ambition. The people of China are so motivated to succeed, and this is frightening because it seems like Americans have become used to being on top and therefore no longer feel that same drive that the Chinese do.

I could continue discussing this book and my thoughts about it for a long time, but this response is only suppose to be a page, so I will end with these last thoughts. Today, life moves so fast. There is so much competition, and it is truly survival of the fittest. However, today, survival of the fittest does not mean brute strength. Instead, to survive, one must be intelligent, creative, and resilient. I think it is very interesting how Friedman also discusses how right brained people are taking over, and more and more, education is stressing the liberal arts. This reminded me of something I heard; In medical school, students are now required to take art classes because it makes them see things in a new and different way. It makes them more aware of their surroundings, and as a result, they make clearer observations. I find this incredibly fascinating.

Not only is this information era frightening and exhilarating, but it also makes me feel sad. As the pace of life continues to increase, I am worried that people will stop appreciating the small things in life because they are too busy trying to get ahead or stay ahead of the game. I read a saying on a picture frame once that I really like, and it was, “Perhaps the meaning of life is to appreciate every moment.” Every revolution in history has had a profound impact on the world, and I am positive that the information revolution will be no different. The question is, will the impact ultimately be positive or negative? I am worried that because life is like a race now, people will lose sight of their values. I believe that happiness should not be given up for anything, even success, and nothing is worth it if you do not enjoy your life. However, will my grandchildren believe this too? Or will their minds have been stolen by the power of technology?