Light

[avevale_intelligencer]

Light and darkness are obviously opposites. One drives out the other, and when one is gone the other returns. But I feel there's more to it than that.

I've long thought that there are flavours of heat. Physics tells us (I fink) that heat, however conveyed (conduction, convection, radiation) is simply an increase in the vibratory rate of those insubstantial, indeterminate, not really there things we pitiful primitives call molecules. My human(ish) senses tell me that the heat from an electric heater, the heat from a gas flame, the heat from a wood fire are in some way different, and one is more pleasant than another. Why should that be? Heat is heat. Why should food heated in a microwave taste different from food heated in an oven, why should crumpets toasted before a fire be nicer (as long as they aren't burnt) than crumpets toasted in a toaster (ditto)? And yet, to me, they are. Maybe the molecules vibrate in a different rhythm, or maybe there is something about them we haven't yet discovered or measured that makes that subtle difference. Or maybe it's all psychological, which is not the same as saying it's not real.

And it's the same with light. Jan, being partially sighted, needs as much actual light as she can get, becomes infuriated when there isn't enough, shouts at the characters in films to TURN ON THE LIGHTS. We know a song about that. She needs the pure white light that drives away shadows, reaches into all the corners, makes everything as visible as possible. I find that light sterile, uncomfortable, cold. I like to have enough light to read by if I want to read, but I find much more pleasant the light that lives with shadows, dances with them, allows for a balance between light and shade. Human light. Human heat.

This may or may not be a metaphor for something, but I'm blowed if I can see what.

Oh, I don't know though. Maybe this is a metaphor for all kinds of extremes. Reason and faith, abundance and shortage, love and loneliness. It's normal to have a degree of both. Wanting more of one or less of the other than you have is also perfectly normal. Needing--needing--all of one and none of the other is a sign of something wrong.

in other news, a cat has been sick on the keyboard of the laptop. i've cleaned as much as i could, but obviously some keys are no longer functioning properly. The universe is trying to stop me using computers.

Comments

[aunty_marion]

Let that be a lesson to you to keep the laptop closed when not in use...

I think I agree with you about the differences between forms of heat and light, though.

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

it was in use.

[aunty_marion]

Ah. Well. Eewwww.

[lastalda.livejournal.com]

I'm no physicist, but I don't think feeling that the heat and light-sources you mention yield different kinds of heat or light contradicts science at all. They are different. Yes, temperature measures how fast molecules swing, and light is moving photons. But light comes in lots and lots of different frequencies and wavelengths, so of course, the light emitted by different light sources looks different. They are different, and not just strength-wise.
Also, the heat/warmth emitted by an object is much more than mere temperature. An oven gives off a constant ammount of heat, while an open fire flickers (and, if it's burning outside a building or with an open window, the wind will add to this effect). And with flames, of course the burned substance will have an influence on the heat omitted. (I would guess that gas burns a lot hotter than wood, for example.)
As for food heated by different methods, it does taste differently. (Microwave ovens especially, since this is a completely different way to heat your food. Ovens etc. make all the molecules swing faster, but microwaves only stir certain molecules (mostly water), so that definitely leads to a different result. Also, with microwaves you don't get much beyond the boiling point of water, whereas many of the chemical reactions that create "flavour" (i.e. the compounds that taste "good" to most of us, like roasting aromas) only happen at much higher temperatures.) But even toasting over an open fire is much different to toasting with a toaster, because the heat is applied less evenly with a fire (and probably lower, if you don't want your toast burned, so the toasting happens slowlyer).

I'm only scratching the surface there, and again, I'm no physicist. But usually when someone thinks "my senses disagree with science", it's either because their senses are secretly combining their impressions behind their back - or because they haven't really looked into the science they think contradicts their opinions. (And sometimes, yes, because science depends on measurements that are still very much imperfect (and not nearly as good at combining impressions as the human mind). :-P)

[lastalda.livejournal.com]

Oh, I don't know though. Maybe this is a metaphor for all kinds of extremes. Reason and faith, abundance and shortage, love and loneliness. It's normal to have a degree of both. Wanting more of one or less of the other than you have is also perfectly normal. Needing--needing--all of one and none of the other is a sign of something wrong.

With this part, I very much agree.
Needing lots and lots and LOTS of light is usually a sign that something is very wrong - either with your eyes or your serotonine levels... (see winter depression and how a visit to a solarium can help there, provided they use UVb radiation along with UVa)

[howeird]

You are right on both the physical & metaphysical levels. As you said, heat is molecules vibrating. The frequency and intensity of the vibrations determine the color and brightness of the light given off. And that in turn is a function of the source materials.

Different heat sources will cook food differently. Microwaves mostly cook things by vibrating the water molecules inside them. Broilers and toasters mostly cook things by radiant heat, from the outside in. Conventional ovens rely on the non-radiant heat supplied after the elements have turned off, and cook slowly from the outside, but over time heating the insides enough to help cook themselves. Gas and electric ovens both work on that principle, and I suspect the food tastes the same for those. Wood-fired ovens flavor the food with wood smoke. Ditto camp fires.

To all these different cooking experiences, we all attach memories, and acquired tastes. So your feeling that crumpets toasted before a fire are nicer than crumpets toasted in a toaster is really your recognizing that the fire adds a different flavor than the electrical element, and you enjoy the ambiance of the fire, and the flavor, more than that of the toaster.

Food is also flavored by the company and the circumstances. Ask a Girl Guide about s'mores, for instance. :-)