If your papa was actually a rolling stone, his whereabouts would be predictable.
If a boulder and a small rock are rolled down a hill together, logic, instinct, and all the insight you have will tell you that the boulder will travel further than the stone. What you might not have realized is that both objects, generally, rolled the same number of times. Based on this, the rolling stone’s travel distance is predictable!
This same principle applies to smoke plumes, river systems, migrating animals, your veins and arteries, tree branches, and even evolution.
Credited with defining a newly understood law of physics called the constructal law, Dr. Adrian Bejan, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Duke University, published his findings in the journal Nature Scientific Reports. He refined the constructal law to include forces shaping the earth’s surface, rolling rocks, and turbulent eddies in water and air. (Read about it here).
Have a listen to this episode of SciWorks Radio Podcast to hear more. How often can you personally relate to a new law of physics? Listen now.
Hear the Broadcast version of this program here:
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First aired Aug 12, 2016
