Energy--What is it?

One of the most basic characteristics of our world and the universe around us is that of motion and activity. Change is everywhere and in everything. Movement is pervasive. On the large scale of things, living beings and inanimate objects roam over the surface of the Earth. The Earth circles the Sun, the Sun like billions of other stars revolves around the center of our galaxy, while our galaxy along with countless others careens through space. On the submicroscopic scale, the atoms and molecules that are the building blocks of all larger bodies are in ceaseless state of agitation. If there was no motion, our universe would collapse and cease to exist.

Things move because energy is expended. Things interact and change because they exchange energy with each other. Every known activity including all processes within living things can be described in terms of energy interchanges. Energy is ubiquitous--it makes the sun shine, the wind blow, wheels turn, water flow and fire burn. It may rest quietly in a gallon of gasoline, a jelly donut, a compressed spring, or in a dammed-up river. You have to invest some energy to do work--push a shopping cart, lift a book, or pedal a bicycle. Whatever work is done, energy is used. The faster the work is done, the more energy must be applied. We cannot make energy or destroy it; we can only use it. The total amount of energy in the universe is the same now as it was at the beginning of time. Only its distribution has and is changing.

Although we use the word energy quite casually and freely, does energy really exist? Not really, its not a thing like matter that has substance, weight and can be seen. Instead, it is a concept--a convenient way of thinking about and describing the effect of forces acting on matter to produce motion. It is an accounting system scientists use to keep tract of the transfer of movement between objects that has proved to be incredibly powerful in explaining our natural world. The idea of energy allows numerical values to be assigned to movement and change allowing us to track mathematically the interaction of things like their change in position, velocity, and the distances they move. It is because energy is conserved that it is such an important and useful concept. The fact that nature maintains the amount of this abstract quantity at a constant value through its many possible transformations from one form to another is quite amazing and useful from a practical point of view. The very essence of science is the belief that the total quantity of energy in the universe is constant and is conserved through its many transformations. Why movement or energy is at the essence of things is unknown. All science can say is that is the way things are and continue to use the concept of energy to probe, describe and shape our world.

Science--Today's Mythology?

Ancient peoples created all kinds of stories to explain natural occurrences that they did not understand. We now refer to them as myths. Could modern man have his myths also? Could it be called science? To be sure, our scientific world view is probably the best of which we humans are capable. Scientific knowledge is more comprehensive, detailed, and accurate to judge from the fact that it can make predictions, and we can use our understanding of things to modify our environment--go into space, create new tools, medicines, etc. However, the scientific description of things should not be taken too literally because the real world out there may not be anything like we imagine. For example, our eyes can only see a very small fraction of the light out there--radio waves, microwaves, infrared, ultraviolet, x-rays and gamma rays are all forms of light we cannot see, but they are out there in the universe. What would things look like if we could see with radiation other than visible light? The chair you are sitting on feels very solid, but in reality it is about 99% empty space. What you feel as solidity is the force of electrical repulsion between the atoms of the chair and the atoms of your bottom. And these atoms are mostly nothing--tenuous energy waves with no real substance. Things look solid only because of the coarseness of our vision.

The point is that the world of things and events are our brain's interpretation of information it receives through our senses and may not bear any resemblance to the real world out there. Our bodies and brains evolved to live, survive, and reproduce like all living things, not necessarily to explore our physical world to figure out how it works. Consequently, we have invented this great myth of science to try to make sense of things. We don't know what is really real out there and what is the creation of our minds. For all anyone knows, the entire outside world could be a dream.

My favorite modern philosophical thinker, Dr. Deepak Chopra, puts it very well in his The Book of Secrets. To paraphrase him, you are not in the world; the world is in you. We are creating every perception that we take as reality. Perception is the world; the world is perception. He illustrates this with the following: Hold a red rose in front of you. Inhale the fragrance and say to yourself: Without me, this flower would have no fragrance. Take in the glowing crimson color and say to yourself: Without me, this flower would have no color. Stroke the velvety petals and say to yourself: Without me, this flower would have no texture. Realize that if you subtract yourself from any sensation--light, sound, touch, taste, or smell--the rose and the world would be nothing but atoms vibrating in a void.