Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Nucleation, Accretion, Bouyancy, Surface Tension, Viscosity

So what have I been up to?

Well, honestly, I have not yet got the computer, the printer, the cell phone, the cable link to the universe, and a fat number of other sorts and types of closure.

I have been doing a little papier mache. Today I am not only thinking about bases and attatchment of sculptural form to rigid material stuff of universe-- I'm planning to go to McGuckins Hardward to buy cheaper larger quantity of white paste.

What about that weird and longwinded tilte up top? Well, another thing I don't presently have is television. Probably just as good, there is a lava lamp on the table whare the majority of domestic activity takes place. I can sit and watch the lava lamp for an easy 15 minutes petty much when ver my eyes aren't real occupied. Denser warmer bits of the less transparent liquid (l.t.l.) rise up in bubbles from the bottom. Some are warm enough that they fuse into the l.t.l. at the top of the lamp which is held aloft because of surface tension- i.e. since the l.t.l. doesn't share it's top side with the more transparent liquid (m.t.l.), it becomes energetically favorable for it to stay at the top of the container even though it is slightly more dense than the m.t.l. . Some tiny bubbles apear to get stuck on what may be minor surface imperfections inside the lamp container. Sometimes "strutcture" appears to appear as channels of the l.t.l. create stalactites and stalagmites which cling to the side surface and join together making a tube for the warmer and cooler portions of the l.t.l. to travel up and down the lamp. It all reminds me of that giant hurricane eyeball on Jupiter. Exactly how long has that weather formation been stable?

Anyway, I can sit there and think about thermodynamics and fluid dynamics and crystallography and soap bubble experiments from the early days of material science. I don't have to watch commercials and I don't have to flip channels. I still think that in a certain sense watching t.v. is a natural extension of some very ancient habit of staring at a fire. The lava lamp has light, motion, change, and even a bit of heat.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

The second to last sentence said it all, dude (gender neutral); impressive words.

Come watch fire where no televisions roam; toilets roam, however, near the coulee - fixated on choice seat of less density as they graze. The grass IS always greener.

Otherwise, I hate to remind you...but you've been talking about buying a computer for a while - going on four months now. Rather than thinking of it as impediment to purity, consider it a toilet seat, of sorts - reasonably comfortable, and useful, too.

Lovey

28.1.06  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

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25.5.06  

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