Physics with Björn: Brownian Motion

First I thought about doing a new year prompt, but somehow I think all has been said about last year. Still you are fine to combine my prompt with new year wishes.

As you might know I once read Physics, and I took a PhD many years ago. I have not worked with Physics after that, but I have always had a passion to understand how the world works, and how it connects to philosophy.

For me Physics is always present in my writing, but I have understood that for many of you Physics brings back memories of less joyful moments in school. I would like to start a small series on different phenomena and what it might tell us of the world. I promise, that there will be no equations, no math, just fun. If you like the theme I will continue this prompts with more challenges.

Today let us look into a microscope and consider Brownian Motion, which is the random motion of particles suspended in a fluid that can be observed through a microscope.

When this was first described by Robert Brown in 1827 when looking at pollen suspended in a solution. At that time atoms and molecules was just a wild theory and the movements he observed seemed random and unpredictable. It was not until 1905 when Albert Einstein came up with a comprehensive theory that the reason was collision from the invisible molecules in the fluid, and that the movement could be explained (if not predicted). Therefore it constituted one of the first concrete evidences of the building.blocks of matter.

Isn’t it fascinating how we can observe something for real that is caused by something we can only imagine?. Often I find the world to be random and erratic. Are we bounced around by forces we only can imagine.

Think about concepts like apparent randomness, of motion and of what we cannot see. Maybe you can imagine being puppeteered like pollen in a fluid, or just dance to randomness and see where you end up.

Link up below and share the joy what other read.

And have a happy new year.