Just Plain Bill
Ever since I was
a little boy, I’ve been fascinated by what happens when I pile up dirt or sand.
I found that no matter how much of the dirt or sand I add, it tends to pile up
into a shape of a cone. Whether digging in my back yard (where I wanted to dig
to China when I was five) or at the beach (where I loved to dig in the sand and
see how high of a pile I could make), it never failed that whatever granular
substance I was piling up, there came a point when it would form into this
cone.
So, the other day
when I had just a little time between the long list of projects I had to finish
(and items on my honey-do list), I decided to use the power of the Internet to
learn a little about why my sand and dirt piles became cone shaped.
When I looked up
the definition of the angle
of repose, a term I had heard over the years but hadn’t bothered to find
out what it meant, I was fascinated by the definition I read from Wikipedia:
“The term has a related usage in mechanics, where it refers
to the maximum angle at which an object can rest on an inclined plane without
sliding down. This angle is equal to the arctangent of the coefficient
of static friction μs between the surfaces….Ranges in degree from 15 degrees
(wet clay) to 45 degrees (wet sand)…”
Now that I know
the “why” my piles would continue to form a cone, I was wondering to what human
phenomenon I could possibly apply this new learning.
Could it be my
streak of stubbornness when, in spite of additional facts, I will hold to my
initial position, since additional matter will not “matter” as the cone will
still result? Or could it be the persistence of finding a creative outcome
when, without the benefit of serendipity, I have difficulty accepting the
obvious – the cone will always result?!
As I doggedly
struggle to see how else I can apply this physical phenomenon to life in
general, I find I need to “leave it” for now (a command I give my dog, Abbie,
when she finds something on the ground that I don’t want her to eat), and await
the blind flash of the obvious that I know will come when I least expect it.
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