Sociable and Unsociable

“There is a certain secret principle in nature by which liquors are sociable to some things and unsociable to others” – Newton.

The basis of the secret principle of sociability, in turn, was entirely chemical. That is, he justified his assertion of this by chemical phenomenon. Water does not mix with oil but oil does mix readily with spirit of wine and with salts. Water sinks in wood, but quicksilver does not. Quicksilver sinks into metals. But water does not. Aqua Fortis dissolves silver but not gold; aqua Regis dissolves gold but not silver.

Also, he illustrated by chemical phenomenon the principle of mediation by which unsociable substances are brought to mix. Molten lead does not mix with copper or with regulus of Mars, but with the mediation of tin it mixes with either. With the mediation of saline spirits, water mixes with metals; that is acids dissolves metals.

സ്വപ്നം

എങ്ങു നിന്നോ വന്നു നീ

    എവിടെക്കോ പോയി നീ

സ്വപ്‌നങ്ങള്‍ കണ്ടു,

വേദനകള്‍ പങ്കിട്ടു,

പ്രതീക്ഷകളും വാക്ദാനങ്ങളും കൊണ്ടൊരു വലയം നീ സൃഷ്ടിച്ചു,

സ്വപ്നത്തില്‍ നിന്നെയും കാണാന്‍ ഞാന്‍ ശ്രമിച്ചു.

പക്ഷെ........

ആ നിമിഷം ഞാന്‍ അറിഞ്ഞു

നീ എന്നില്‍ നിന്നും എത്രയോ ദൂരെ ആണെന്ന്‍

ഒരിക്കലും അടുക്കാനാവില്ലെന്നു മനസ്സെന്നോട് പറഞ്ഞു,

എങ്കിലും നിന്നെ സ്വപ്നത്തിലെങ്കിലും ഒരുനോക്കു കാണാന്‍

ഞാനിന്നും ആഗ്രഹിക്കുന്നു.

Phenomenon of colors

Hooke proposed that 

‘Blue is an impression on the retina of an oblique and confused pulse of light, whose weakest part precedes and whose strongest follows.’ Red is the impression of an oblique and confused pulse of reverse order.

Newton’s proposal

Thin leaves of gold appear yellow from one side in reflected light but blue in transmitted light from the other; with a solution of lignum nephriticum(nephritic wood, infusions of which were used medicinally at the time) the colors are the reverse. In both cases, the transmission of some rays and reflection of other analyses white light into its components. He was convinced that all solid bodies would behave like gold if pieces thin enough could be obtained and that the solution of lignum nephriticum would appear blue from all sides if it were made thick enough so that no light could pass through

The force of a body moving in a circle derived from an impact

Newton imagined that a square circumscribes a circular path and that a body follows a square path inside the circle rebounding at the four points where the circle touches the outer square. From the geometry of the square he was able to compare the force of one impact, in which the component of the body’s motion perpendicular to the side it strikes is reversed, to the force of the body’s motion and then to compare the force of the four reflections the total force in one circuit, to the force of the body’s motion. He then generalized the result to polygons of increasing number of sides.

Why speed at sea is measured in knots?

Early ships calculated speed by using a log. It was a log of wood, weighted at one end, with the other end fixed to long piece of rope. The log, thrown over the stern of the ship, floated, and the rope was let out on as the ships sailed on. The speed of the ship could be calculated by seeing how much rope had been let out in a given time.

In later years, knots were tied at equal distances along the rope. A sailor counted how many knots passed through his hands in a certain time. This gave the speed of the ship. Sailors came to use the word knots to mean the speed of the ship.

Today, a knot has come to mean one nautical or sea mile per hour. A nautical mile equals 1.852km, a little more than a land mile. Imagine that a ship is sailing at a speed of 15 knots. This means that it is sailing at a speed of 15 nautical miles an hour or 28 kilometers an hour.

Logs are still used to show how fast a ship is travelling. But today, the logs used are special metals with flat blades around them. As the ship sails through the water, the metal rod rotates ad twists the rope round and round. The spinning rope works a device back on the ship that shows the actual speed.

Famous Speeches

And I’ve seen the promised-land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised-land. And I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.
Martin Luther King

You ask, what is your aim? I can answer in one word. It is victory! Victory at all costs! Victory in spite of all terrors. Victory, however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival.
Winston Churchill

And so, many fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.
John F Kennedy

I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony with equal opportunities. It is ideal which I hope to live for, and see realized. But my lord, if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.
Nelson Mandela