Don't forget about time scales: the age of the universe, of the earth, and the evolutionary age of life as we know it, i.e. time from the last major extinction event. There is a very interesting exponential trend between arthropods, mammals, and angiosperms, which is mentioned in Fig.2 of Ahrens et al. "The evolution of scarab beetles...". The other thing to mention (especially today?) is that Jeans was deeply religious, and is still remembered for his religion, see "Quantum Questions" Ed. Wilbur. Excerpts from the following: https://alta3b.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/quantum-questions.pdf (Shambhala Publications, imo, are trustworthy & reputable). "we can never understand what events are, but must limit ourselves to describing the patterns of events in mathematical terms; no other aim is possible. Physicists who are trying to understand nature may work in many different fields and by many different methods; one may dig, one may sow, one may reap. But the final harvest will always be a sheaf of mathematical formulae. These will never describe nature itself. . . . [Thus] our studies can never put us into contact with reality. " When I was much younger, arguments along these lines--that we can never achieve enlightenment, and that we can never overcome our own biases--convinced me that Jeans was as good a theorist as any of his more-famous contemporaries, Planck, Pauli, and others. Cheers, Brad On Sun, Apr 12, 2020 at 9:30 AM James Propp <jamespropp@gmail.com> wrote:
Michael,
Wait, how are there "about as many atoms in a teaspoonful of water as there
are molecules of water in all Earth’s oceans"?
It should say “teaspoons”! Thanks.
(Also, Dr. T. had "5000 fingers", not "500 finger".)
And thanks for catching that too!
Jim _______________________________________________ math-fun mailing list math-fun@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/math-fun