math and science

bliss (swise@lwhs.org)
Mon, 24 May 1999 15:19:04 -0800

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Message-Id: <199905242211.PAA07180@noontide.lick.pvt.k12.ca.us>

Date: Mon, 24 May 1999 15:19:04 -0800

To: "Pinhole Listserv" <pinhole@exploratorium.edu>

From: swise@lwhs.org (bliss)

Subject: math and science

A question from one of my colleagues (it's nice to work with folks who
think about stuff other than their own job!)...

Why do so many natural phenomena seem to follow a pattern of squares or
inverse squares? It seems oddly coincidental that the physical data fit the
mathematics so perfectly...why, for example, doesn't the law of universal
gravitation show that gravitational force varies with 2/3 the power of the
distance or something like that?

Examples I've thought of so far that fit this pattern are Coulomb's law,
the Law of Universal Gravitation, light intensity, and sound intensity. Are
there others?

Sarah Wise

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Sarah Wise

Lick-Wilmerding H.S.
755 Ocean Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94112
swise@lick.pvt.k12.ca.us

"Not everything that can be counted counts,
and not everything that counts can be counted."
--Albert Einstein

Next message: Sidney Keith: "Square Laws"
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