Some Topics in the Statics and Dynamics of Material Bodies

Author(s):  
Chao-Cheng Wang
Author(s):  
Michael H. Whitworth

This chapter examines Oliver Lodge’s popular science book Ether and Reality, which was published in 1925. In it, Oliver Lodge purported to give a non-technical account of the functions of the luminiferous ether. However, Lodge himself had a dilemma, as he wanted the ether to be different from material bodies but not wholly immaterial. Lodge thus needed to present both an account of the ether and an account of a scientific view that was sympathetic to its possible existence. This chapter examines Lodge’s expository strategies in his book. It considers Lodge’s creation of ethos, and the reader that his text implies, paying particular attention to his use of analogy, repetition, parallelism and allusion. It also identifies previously unremarked literary allusions and allusions to the Bible. Finally, as this chapter shows, much of Lodge’s work is done through suggestion and insinuation: Lodge requires the reader to complete his meaning for him.


2021 ◽  
pp. 108128652110108
Author(s):  
Emilio Turco ◽  
Emilio Barchiesi ◽  
Francesco dell’Isola

This contribution presents the results of a campaign of numerical simulations aimed at better understanding the propagation of longitudinal waves in pantographic beams within the large-deformation regime. Initially, we recall the key features of a Lagrangian discrete spring model, which was introduced in previous works and that was tested extensively as capable of accurately forecasting the mechanical response of structures based on the pantographic motif, both in statics and dynamics. Successively, a stepwise integration scheme used to solve equations of motions is briefly discussed. The key content of the present contribution concerns the thorough presentation of some selected numerical simulations, which focus in particular on the propagation of stretch profiles induced by impulsive loads. The study takes into account different tests, by varying the number of unit cells, i.e., the total length of the system, spring stiffnesses, the shape of the impulse, as well as its properties such as duration and peak amplitude, and boundary conditions. Some conjectures about the form of traveling waves are formulated, to be confirmed by both further numerical simulations and analytical investigations.


Philosophy ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 62 (242) ◽  
pp. 509-515 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. David Kline ◽  
Carl A. Matheson

Absolutely no one still believes that every physical interactionconsists of material bodies bumping into each other. Those who have tried to work out a completely mechanistic physics have been unable to explain common phenomena like liquidity, gravitation and magnetism. In fact, there is great reason to doubt that such a physics could ever account for attractive forces in general.


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