~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oh, isn't it obvious that I was a biochemistry student who had a passion for physics?
Mathematical chaos, or chaos theory, roughly says that making tiny changes can and do wildly change the outcome of an event. This is popularly known as the butterfly effect, where a butterfly flapping its wings in Toyko causes rain instead of sun in Texas.
The 1st Law of Thermodynamics says that energy and matter can neither be created nor destroyed,
but it may move from one form to another.
The 2nd Law of Thermodynamics roughly says that even though a system works toward equilibrium, it does so at the cost of increased disorder, and that this is inevitable, and you can only have more order if you add energy to the system.
***This is just a very rough explanation, and one that serves my purposes for my blog entry!***
Here we have closed system:
my kitchen with an enormous pile of dirty dishes,
and a little girl who is extremely unhappy because her sisters wouldn't give her something she wanted.
It's four o'clock, every dish in the house is dirty and a cranky little girl is screaming loud enough to make my ears ring.
If I'm going to take this from its natural state of disorder and chaos, I'm going to have to input some energy.
Or maybe A LOT of energy
Chaos theory says that changes I make at the outset can and do influence the final outcome.
So I take a deep breath, put the two quieter children in the front yard with the dog,
took a few minutes to hug the sad child, and started singing Over in the Meadow.
The sad child didn't stop crying right away,
but she was 'content' to moan "nooooo" in her most pitiful voice on the counter while I scrubbed and rinsed.
As I put in *the right kind of energy* (not that angry, frustrated energy),
the sad child grew happy and sat down to draw.
Soon the disorder of dirty dishes was reversed, through my input of peaceful, calm energy....
......and elbow grease.
Meanwhile, the three sisters reunited in happiness,
their own vital energy replenished with a centered and present momma.
I had added the energy needed to rise above the disorder,
and also made the small changes necessary to facilitate a different outcome.
But as the first law of thermodynamics states, energy moves from one form to another.....
and my creation of order in the house and the children
was offest by the increase in disorder the now happy children.
Ah, well.......you cannot break the laws of physics.
~carrie~
p.s. It must be noted that sometimes this scene plays in reverse,
with happy children going to sad children,
and a peaceful momma going to a frustrated momma.
