Energy, Matter, and Force (Week 4)

Based off of Peter Meyers' post in Symmetry Magazine, it would seem that my body is alive thanks to Einstein's equation. Especially as someone who eats an especially large amount of plants since I'm a vegetarian, I have a great gratitude for the process of the sun's mass turning into sunlight energy that fuels the growth of the plants I so enjoy eating. The gorgeous sunny weather we've had for the last two days has been so lovely and feeling the sunlight on my skin has felt so delicious especially with the knowledge that it will help my body create Vitamin D which is useful for so many things including maintaining bone health, which as someone with scoliosis I need to be especially mindful of.

Just to have some fun with it: If the four forces were beverages...

The Red Eye, also known as a cup of coffee with an espresso shot in it, would be the Strong Nuclear Force. It's unfamiliar to most. It holds things together that might otherwise fall apart (like an exhausted desk worker). It only works on a very short distance; the consumer of such a beverage must have their cup by them at all times or they lose their strength.

The Regular Cup of Joe or coffee would be Electromagnetism. It's polarizing: you either love it or you hate it. It's still strong but not the strongest. The messenger particle of electromagnetism is the photon which travels at the speed of light, similar to the thoughts of one who has just had their morning brew.

A cup of Black Tea with milk & sugar would be the Weaker Nuclear Force. It's a bit less familiar than the cup of coffee. And the tea's messenger particles of sugar and milk (like the W & Z bosons) are heavy and slow, inspiring the drinker to consume their beverage slower resulting in less caffeine consumption (strength) than the cup of coffee.

Lastly, the cup of Rooibos Tea...Gravity. Such a subtle influence you'd hardly realize it's having any effect at all. There isn't any caffeine in rooibos tea and yet there is something in it that is gently stimulating, a bit mysterious, just like this supposed graviton particle that no one has found just yet. ;)

The function of gravity is to keep masses from going too far astray from one another. It maintains the greater community of the galaxy.