A Unified View of Physical Processes

Abstract

Everything flows. Water and air flow on the surface of the Earth, where they create the multitude of phenomena we know from everyday life. Winds can impart their motion to the water of the oceans, and in a far-away place, this motion can be picked up again through the action of the waves. These processes are maintained by the radiation pouring out from the surface of the sun; light flows from there through space, and some of it is intercepted and absorbed by our planet. Both in nature and in machines, heat is produced and transported from place to place. In electrical machines, we make electricity flow in an imitation of its flow in the atmosphere, and in reactors, chemical substances flow while at the same time undergoing change. Today, we even see life as governed by flow processes.

παvτα ρει

Heraclides (550–480)