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"What
is Energy?" Part Two
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Update Page The
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Background
to the Youtube video Synopsis This video is one
of a series planned on our use of the key symbols used to express our
relationship with the universe(s). It continues the exploration of our current use of the
“energy” symbol. The video "What
is Energy?" Part One is based on the premise that Google both forms
and reflects our Anglo-American societies now and thus provides useful
insight into our culture. The
video contains a snapshot taken on one day (5 August 2009) and explores
what the Google search page on “energy” reveals of the New Zealand
culture. I suggest
the Wiki page reflects the confused vision of the nature of energy
propagated in our schools and media and offer my alternative definition
of energy: Energy =
the potential of the universe(s). This video
explores the nature and scale of this potential, which is energy. “Energy
is bounteous, conserved (it cannot be created or destroyed) and it is
continually transforms.” The video
reiterates the
implications of the Conservation Principle of Energy thus: In
other words, it is 100% DENIAL of the Conservation Principle i.e. denial
of reality to say energy is a form or group of forms or to say energy
can be generated, created, sustained, saved, consumed, conserved, destroyed,
wasted or lost.. to speak thus is 100% DENIAL. The video associates this denial with a commonly used danger symbol for a very good reason. The denial expresses a fundamental disconnection with reality. In this state of psychosis the activities of humans tend to put us all at risk of misery in the form of war, famine and disease. The confusion of perspectives or types of energy with the potential, which is energy, is a similar denial and the video illustrates how we can avoid this state of being. It shows the enormous potential in even the most mundane of our decisions/actions. It then hints at the vast potential hinted at in Quantum Theory using statements from the movie "What the Bleep!? Down the Rabbit Hole." The video concludes with a plea that we each conserve the wonderful potential of the "energy symbol". These two videos are part of a planned
series looking at our use of a range of key symbols (incl. power,
electricity, energy efficiency, carbon, global warming, trace,
greenhouse and science), how they have been colonised by
vested interests and how flawed uses of these vital symbols puts
humanity at serious risk. It is helpful to be mindful that all information is physical and symbols enable civilisation. A word in any form is no less or more physical than a seed or a brick. Thus it is helpful to conserve the fullest potential of a word just as we care for seeds and craft bricks. As with "What is Energy?" Part One the video was made with difficulty. The challenges generated by my lack of skills and resources were amplified by the fact that the narrative operation on my Windows Movie Maker continually crashes and according to Dick Smiths, Hewlett Packard and Service Plus this failure cannot be remedied. The objective is
to provide students with an appreciation of the wisdom and hope inherent
in the Conservation Principle of Energy; the tools to evaluate the
sustainability of their school libraries, lesson activities and media;
and the capacity to psychoanalyse their teachers and parents with
compassion. Thus students will be able to provide all those in denial of
the Conservation Principle, especially their teachers and parents
working in corporations, with inspiring glimpses of the wondrous nature
of energy.
SCRIPT and LINKS What is
energy? Part Two – the potential, which is energy. I begin this
video as I ended the first video on our energy symbol – actively
breathing, feeling and dancing with energy. In it I defined energy thus: Energy = the potential of the universe(s). I suggested
everyone
experiences energy but no one knows what energy is,
and that we have
a great guide to the nature of energy in the Conservation Principle,
which I symbolise thus: Energy is
bounteous, conserved (it cannot be created or destroyed) and it is
continually transformed. In other
words…. energy is not
any form or group of forms or to say energy cannot be generated,
sustained, consumed, saved, conserved, destroyed, wasted or lost..
Thus those who
say humans can conserve, consume, save energy etc are in 100% DENIAL of
the Conservation Principle, the nearest we have to a natural law. They
put us all at greater risk. Humans can only work to conserve energy
forms. The first video
is based on a google snapshot of New Zealand. It reveals how Anglo
American nations exhibit profound denial of the
Conservation Principle and reject its wisdom. In my planned video on the
Sustainability Principle of Energy I will explain why we deny it and why
our denial is such a source of great misery. For now let us be mindful
that energy is bounteous as the universe(s) and exists in myriad, myriad
continually changing forms. We can usefully
observe any one of those forms from a number of perspectives. Here is an
analogy…we can usefully observe the human body from a range of points
of view… ......Each point of view offers valuable insights and each is complementary and insufficient. You probably know the wonderful tale of the six blind men who each felt a different part of an elephant…a tree a fan a snake a rope a wall a spear.. Similarly we can
usefully observe an object from a number of perspectives, including its
thermal, gravitational, electromagnetic, chemical, nuclear, radiant,
dark and other properties. We know that the ear or the tail are of the
elephant and are not the elephant. Likewise energy can be seen to have
these properties but none are energy. However see how
our schools to teach there is a basket of stuff called Thermal Energy,
Kinetic Energy, Potential energy Electrical Energy
etc. And see how very often they teach that there are just two
forms of energy – potential (stored) and kinetic (movement). http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/kids/energy.cfm?page=about_forms_of_energy-forms They confuse
energy forms with the properties of energy. They obscure the
fact that energy is the potential of the universe(s). It is more
helpful to, for instance, talk of exploring energy from an electrical
perspective or a thermal perspective. It is more
helpful to speak of actual potential and non-actual potential. Or if you
like, realised potential and non-realised potential. And what does the
“ potential” mean? Potential =
anything that may be possible; having possibility, capability, or power In
other words, it is anything that is and anything that could be. When we talk of
the potential, which is energy, we are really speaking of ginormous,
vast, immense, colossal, possibly immeasurable potential. What we
experience in any moment is just a trace, trace, trace aspect of the
total potential, a whisper of the energy possible in the form of sound,
a twinkling of the energy possible in the form of light, a faintest
whiff of the energy possible in the form of perfume, a merest movement
of the energy possible in the form of kinetics, a briefest sparking of
energy possible in electrical forms ... Let
us briefly explore the potential in a drop of water. It is manifest so
we can see, taste and feel it. It is neither frozen nor vapour so we
know it has a temperature between 0-100 Centrigrade. Using gadgets such
as electron microscopes we can detect the presence of potent electrical
charges and great movement in the atoms with their electrons travelling
at well over hundred thousand miles an hour. We know the
droplet is a most fleeting phenomenon. Its form is changing even as we
observe it. Its constituent water molecules may have arrived on our
planet this year or they may have been here billions of years. If you
drank the drop you may be sharing a atoms in the water that passed
through Aristotle and Jesus and King Asoka. And
its potential varies with its position in the universe(s).
Imagine it is suspended on a leaf high up on a mountain. It may
evaporate into water vapour and later condense into clouds. It may fall
and become part of a river that washes a mountain away or fertilises a
field or carries the seed of a giant tree or cools a nuclear reactor so
it can generate electrical products for driving all manner of our
devices. We
are each of the amazing potential of the universe(s), which is energy.
We are each energy manifest, realised, actualised. We
have the capacity to use energy, to transform…we eat, drink and
breathe.. thus we are sustained and enabled…. Thus,
for instance I have the potential to be a school janitor and who knows
what potential I may have in that capacity. Take this pen I
find lying on the floor. I can enable a great range of possibilities
from the universal potential. I am the
potential which throws the pen into the waste bin and thus sends it to
the city dump for the rest of its existence in the form of a pen. I can leave it on
the floor where someone may trip on it, fall over and be transformed
into a cripple. I can use energy
to lift the pen up onto the desk. It now has the altered potential to: Fall down on the floor again.. Record on paper a
great mathematical equation that sets dancing great questions in the
mind of a student... Copy a Tesla
drawing that inspires in the student a vast new array of technology.... Draw positive
space out of negative space so the student is able to understand paradox
and physics with all their being, not just their intellect... Record the notes
to a tune that sets millions of people dancing and smiling... Be balanced on a finger so the student feels the trace balances that enable life to exist.. Or stood on end
like this and inspire types of new rockets or weapons or become a source
of meditation and stillness and peace… You can see how
the potential of the universe(s) is manifest in great possibilities even
this simple pen. And if that is
not enough potential then here is a mind expanding thought… our
intellect is but a trace, trace element of our being. There are powerful
elements of our psyche that are capable of transcending thought and
embracing paradox. The frontiers of our spirit are also its centre and
we can realise the enormous potential that exists when our minds and
matter, which is energy, become as one. It could be, for instance, that
in the instant of observation
the atom is realised in a certain form from a vast range of
possibilities. Our act of reflection is an act of active participation in the universe(s). Finally one more
odd and wonderful thing about energy. Even though we each have a
different notion of what energy is we do have agreed ways of measuring
energy. The most common unit of energy is the
joule in our Anglo-American world For instance you
are releasing about a joule of energy in the form of heat every
hundredth of a second as you sit there viewing this video. Your brain is
using about a joule of energy every tenth of second. I probably used
about a tenth of joule picking the pen up and putting it on the desk…
and who knows how that changed its ultimate potential. Most of the
potential of the universe(s) is unmeasurable because we mere mortals
cannot imagine it. However this still leaves an enormous range of energy
manifestations that we can measure. And a bounteous array of options we
can enjoy. Enjoy the
compassionate spirit required to realise the wonderful potential, which
is energy. In summary remain
mindful of the great Conservation Principle of Energy Energy is the
potential of the universe(s). It is bounteous and takes myriad forms. It
is conserved and sustained ie cannot be created or destroyed. It
continually transforms and is manifest as constant change. Do not be a misery monger of the wonderful “energy” symbol. Embrace the great guide we have in the Conservation Principle of Energy and live in acceptance of change/stewardship. Give each energy form its own symbol so it can be talked of by its own name. Do this and our children too can better know the bounteous nature of energy and enjoy the vitality of its transformations. Thanks to all
Internet contributers Visit www.bonusjoules.co.nz
and enjoy compassion. *****************************************
Wiki definitionIn physics, energy (from the Greek ἐνέργεια - energeia, "activity, operation", from ἐνεργός - energos, "active, working"[1]) is a scalar physical quantity that describes the amount of work that can be performed by a force, an attribute of objects and systems that is subject to a conservation law. Different forms of energy include kinetic, potential, thermal, gravitational, sound, light, elastic, and electromagnetic energy. The forms of energy are often named after a related force. Any form of energy can be transformed into another form, but the total energy always remains the same. This principle, the conservation of energy, was first postulated in the early 19th century, and applies to any isolated system. According to Noether's theorem, the conservation of energy is a consequence of the fact that the laws of physics do not change over time.[2] Although the total energy of a system does not change with time, its value may depend on the frame of reference. For example, a seated passenger in a moving airplane has zero kinetic energy relative to the airplane, but non-zero kinetic energy relative to the Earth. Snapshot of New Zealand culture 5 August 2009
Footnote:
For more joy, see the Compassionate Education Curriculum Framework.
Youtube Video "What is Energy?" Part One
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