Spencer Heath Archives

Item 25

Penciled fragment by Heath on notepad paper concerning physics research.

No date

 

 

 

     Physical research deals primarily with such range of the objective universe as impinges on the human sensorium. The human psyche, in its rational capacities, discovers these sense data (objective experience) as arising from particular events distinguishable and individual in them­selves yet interacting among themselves and thus constitut­ing the universal cosmic phenomenon — or rather such finite events or particular of them as are neither too large or too small to come within range of the finite human sensorium.

    

     Such accessible events the human rationality discovers as composed of three and of only three discontinuous and thereby numerically measurable elements or aspects — namely, the aspect of mass, measured in grams, and having the property of force or inertia, the aspect of motion, measured in centimeters, and the aspect of rhythm, periodicity or frequency, which is measured in seconds or fractions thereof. These three ratios, in any finite event, its numerical dimension of force in ratio to its mass unit, its numerical dimension of motion in ratio to its motion unit, and its numerical dimension of duration in ratio to its time unit — these three numerical dimensions when taken as factors together constitute the over-all dimension, the dynamic body, as it were, of the particular action or unitary event. The over all numerical dimension of this composite event, composed of force (as a property of its mass), motion and time is expressed in composite units of work or action such as the dyne-centimeters per second or ergs per second, called erg-seconds or watt-hours multiplied by the number of time units through which they extend or continue in the particular event.

 

     This multiplication gives the work or action dimension of the event as a whole instead of that portion of it which takes place within the duration of a single unit of time. That portion of the total work or action which occurs during a single unit of time is called the rate of work or of action (ratio to the unit of time) and is often referred to simply as energy or power, meaning the capacity of anything to perform work or action within a single unit of time. Thus a high power or high energy device is one capable of performing a large amount of work or putting out a large quantity of action during a single unit of time. The terms Energy and power are often used somewhat ambiguously to designate not only the ratio or rate of work or action in relation to one unit of time but also the total quantity of work or action done or performed during the passage of any definite or indefinite number of units of time.

 

     Force or inertia is a property of mass. It is that property of any mass in relation to other mass whereby it is impressed with or impresses other mass with change in its rate or direction of motion.

 

     The standard reference unit of mass is that contained in a cubic centimeter of pure water at 60 degrees Fahrenheit and sea level pressure on the earth. Its gravitational mass is that force whereby the standard gram moves or is prevented from moving towards the center of gravity of the earth. The mass and the force are inseparable under the conditions and the gram is the unit of measure for both.

     The dynamic or inertial unit of mass is that unit of force whereby the standard gram is accelerated or decelerated at the rate of one centimeter per second. This unit of force is called the dyne and is the same for measurement of the force associated with one or more grams in any and all directions.

     The standard unit of work or action is that done or performed by the force of one dyne acting through one centi­meter of motion. This unit of work or action, this dyne-centimeter, is called the erg. It is the unit whereby any quantity of work or action is measured, regardless of the quantity of time involved.

     That quantity of work or action in any event that is done or performed by one erg during one second is called an erg-second. The total quantity of work or action in the event is the number of ergs (dyne-centimeters) per second multiplied by the number of seconds through which the event continues or extends. This total quantity is the number of ergs constituting the event and not any number of erg-seconds. For erg-seconds are neither ergs nor seconds but only the rate or ratio of work or action to time during the event.

 

 

 

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Commentary by Alvin Lowi, Jr.:

VI  B.1, 2, 3, 4

 

SUBJECT:  The three abstract quantities which constitute an objective, physical event which can be perceived by the human sensoria. Their definitions and units are discussed in more or less conventional terms.

 

REMARKS:  Force as a property of mass? Some confusion of nomenclature obscures basically important — perhaps revolutionary integration of physical epistemology in terms of action. (Needs analysis.)