I have a habit of finding jaw dropping beauty in the simplest of things. I just find our world and our universe so amazing when you look at it and examine what is actually going on. Many times my physics teacher has made me speechless by performing "tricks" and demonstrations that show physics principles in cool ways. I was amazed when I was able to move his jeep by sitting on a tow rope that was pulled taught, and I was amazed when we made a giant hot air balloon that rose from the heat of the sunlight. In all of these instances, I knew what would happen (it was a conceptual physics class) but actually seeing it happen and watching it occur before me eyes was the most spectacular part about the demonstration! I've never used the YouTube tags before, so hopefully I can get it right the first shot. Here are two videos from the ISS that is in orbit around Earth. The first is of a wet cloth being wrung out in 0G environment. The second is how a female astronaut washes her long hair in a 0G environment. Since the ISS is actually really close to Earth, the astronauts feel almost ALL of the gravity you and I feel. The thing is, they are traveling forward as they are falling down. They essentially fall a little and move forward a lot, so they never quite lose a lot of altitude. They are in free fall and don't feel as if they are in a gravitational field. NASA has a plane that climbs to a very high altitude and then free falls back to Earth producing the same 0G conditions. It is called the "Vomit Comet" and is used to train new astronauts. Here are the vids: [YOUTUBE]lMtXfwk7PXg[/YOUTUBE] [YOUTUBE]kOIj7AgonHM[/YOUTUBE] I wonder if anyone else experiences this feeling like I do. I just get a grin ear to ear and think about how beautiful our universe is. After watching all of these ISS videos, I kind of find it odd that we are constantly being forced into the ground at 9.8m/s^2 and that anything you drop is instantly attracted to the Earth at ever increasing speed. What do you guys think?
I find wonder in many things. I understand the grin from ear to ear, not usually physics related, but beauty, mystery and phenomena are all around us. Mine tend to be related to locations, architecture and seeing things that are usually missed. Breathtaking natural wonder, humanity in vulnerable intimacy. There is much to marvel at in this world, unfortunately, there are also many distractions. A thread like this one is a great way to help refocus attention to things that are worth smiling about. Thanks.
Oh yes, you just reminded of another thing that tends to get me feeling this way. When I visit places that have been the way they are for hundreds if not thousands of years, I feel awestruck by the sheer amount of time that has passed and the memories that the walls have seen or that the trees have seen. I went to Tombstone AZ and stood in the bar/diner place that is in the center of town. It has the original Copper roof from when the building was built. It has several .45 and .36 caliber holes in the roof from when patrons shot their pistols into the air during a fight. The feeling of standing in the EXACT same spot that a real cowboy did in the late 1800s is pretty amazing. Going to old Native American settlements here in the Southwest is also pretty amazing. There are paintings on the rocks that are incredibly old and you can find them just by walking out in the desert. I touch the painting and wonder what it would be like to meet the person that drew that painting. What would that person say if I showed them an Iphone and a modern car? I saw a picture of 2-3 fighter jets flying past the Great Pyramids in Egypt. What would an ancient Egyptians have said if they saw these fighter jets 2000 years later? Surely they might think we were aliens. That feeling is something I get when things like this amaze me. I also have quite an imagination. I think about stuff like this ALL the time. I'm always thinking...wondering.
This is what I thought of when I read your first post. :icon_bigg I know that grin very well. Mostly I get it when I think about how things that people take for granted (like gravity) really work.
Sometimes I wonder at the possibility of sadness, of depression in this world of wonders. It's the closing in on oneself that blinds us sometimes to the incredible improbability, beauty and wildness of this planet. Just far enough from the sun not to burn, close enough not to freeze, liquid water, molecules organized into life, and nowhere yet have we found anything like this planet in our universe. The world's existence is an awesome mystery, I experience this awe through science and the wonders of biochemistry (my field) and it is this same awe that has led me to faith, which is the attempt to comprehend the incomprehensible.
I agree our planet is pretty miraculous. We've found other planets in the "Goldilocks Zone" but we can't be certain that the same amino acids are formed there or that whatever lead to the initial production of amino acids on Earth has happened thete as well. I can't help but think there is life elsewhere (even if it's microscopic) in this absolutely gargantuan universe we live in. The solar system itself is HUGE. Then move up to the galaxy and the local group. HUGE array of planets that could support life. It makes me feel very very small. Imagine what our planet and society would look like to aliens. Suddenly gay/straight, Christian/atheist, black/white, beggar/millionaire, teen/elderly none of it really matters much in the grand scheme of things. That's what I think about whenever I get stressed out. I zoom out and laugh at my situation.
Great thread - and totally agree There is absolute beauty in anything and everything - sometimes you just need to learn how to see
If we don't see the beauty in small things, we'll never find it in big ones. I am fascinated by the universe, but my main interest is more focus on the inner psyche- psychology as well as sociology and what makes people tick. *studies everyone in thread* :icon_bigg
Finding beauty in the simplest of things is very healthy. I derive a lot of happiness and satisfaction from looking at beautiful scenery. I think a lot of people do, actually.
Data, I just moved back from Europe. I miss this part of humanity's longevity already. Cities, walls, monasteries all hundreds if not thousands of years old. They had the same kinds of problems and yet saw fit to build beautiful things. I think our world would look alien to them, even for people of just a hundred years ago. We live in such a loud era, constantly bombarded with information. So we make filters to cope, it is shame when those filters keep us from childlike wonder. There is so much to be grateful for and about in life. Even here, amidst the struggles we share on EC, there is so much to be grateful here that two people of any variety can find something otherworldly in each other. Something that goes beyond words. It is all magnificent when we allow ourselves the opportunity to see it that way.
Occasionally beautiful scenery (like going up to Mt. Lemmon here in Tucson) makes me a little sad that I have no one to share it with. That usually lasts for only a minute or so as I then switch to thinking about how it's a shame only HUMANS can appreciate the beauty of the planet. We are the only ones in the universe that can look out the window and be stunned by other life growing and thriving. The birds singing, the crickets chirping, all of it is just noise unless you think about where the noise comes from and how it got here. ---------- Post added 1st Nov 2013 at 05:09 PM ---------- I would LOVE to go and just sit in some of the churches of Europe. I would love to see the frescos and ancient Greece or Rome. I would just love to sit in the center of stonehenge and just bask in all the time it's seen. Amazing!:icon_bigg
