Physics Week#8 Newton’s Three laws, “Energy Efficient” Culture, and Descartes

 

Newton’s Three Laws and me

Newton's three laws of motion may be stated as follows:

1. The law of inertia:I. Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it. 

2. The relationship between an object's mass m, its acceleration a, and the applied force F is F = ma. Acceleration and force are vectors (as indicated by their symbols being displayed in slant bold font); in this law the direction of the force vector is the same as the direction of the acceleration vector. 

3. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

We can see them in our everyday activities. In the first law, a passenger in a moving car who is not wearing a seat belt will be thrown forward when the car suddenly stops because he remains in motion. In the second law, a small boat takes smaller force to propel than a bigger boat. In the third one, we can experience it when we jump. When our legs apply a force to the ground, the ground applies and equal and opposite reaction force that propels the body into the air.

Our “Energy Efficient” Culture

 

“Turn the lights off, close the door, you’re wasting energy.”  Energy efficiency is about more than just turning off light switches or shutting down computers at the end of the night. Without a cultural shift, it is very difficult to implement and maintain a sustainable energy practice. 

Descartes has a lot to answer for!

Very simply, what Descartes is trying to do is build knowledge on a firm basis. One of the deepest and most lasting legacies of Descartes' philosophy is his thesis that mind and body are really distinct—a thesis now called “mind-body dualism.” He reaches this conclusion by arguing that the nature of the mind (that is, a thinking, non-extended thing) is completely different from that of the body. Modern science such as quantum physics has proven that these ideas are limited. Everything is entangled, interconnected. Our universe is constantly in motion. Moreover, the basic principle of TCM practice is the body-mind connection.