The Power of Rust

There are certain things in this world that we cannot avoid. Sleep, for example, sleep is something that we do not have the power to resist, no matter how hard we try. Oxidation is another process that occurs constantly...when we eat, we generate energy through oxidation...and that is why we must breathe, because oxygen is required for oxidative metabolism. Oxidation is the loss of electrons, and it is always paired with its closest friend, reduction, the gain of electrons. One molecule must be oxidized in order for another molecule to be reduced. It is rare that I will ever use the word "must"...I don't speak in absolutes. I tend to err on the side of caution and hedge my bets...but not in this case. If one molecule is to lose electrons, those electrons MUST go somewhere, and their only option is to go to another atom.

Metabolic oxidation and reduction reactions are essential for producing high levels of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), a high energy molecule...did I say "a high energy molecule?"...I meant "the high energy molecule." Sorry. ATP is the man (or woman). It is used in most anabolic activities our cells can think of, those processes in which cells build things. "Hmmmm....I think I want to make a protein today," it says. Well, proteins don't just grow on trees, you know. The cell has to pay for the formation of new peptide bonds, energetically speaking. Well, then, you may ask, how does the cell "earn" its ATP? It does this partially through oxidation and reduction. There is a change in energy that occurs when a molecule gives up an electron. Sometimes moving an electron from one atom to another is extremely energetically favorable, which produces energy that can potentially be used in other ways. If losing an electron is energetically favorable AND if the cell is very clever (which it is) it can store that energy in a more useful form, which it ultimately does as ATP. Without oxidative metabolism, it would probably take me about four minutes and one second to jog the last mile of a marathon...and my heart rate might even reach 60 bpm. So yeah, you could say oxidation is pretty important.

Prehistoric cavemen (and women) were notoriously afraid of fire (another oxidation/reduction reaction)?  This fear is well-founded because uncontrolled oxidation (and reduction) can be dangerous, not only in the case of fire, but also in the case of rust.  Rust is the product of the oxidation of iron. Whereas iron is strong, rust is not. Unfortunately, many structures were built with iron because, in its original state, iron IS sturdy. After years of exposure to water and salt, oxidized iron, rust, replaces the sturdy iron, with a brittle, yet colorful material, which is more visually appealing than it is strong. According to this useful website: corrosioncost.com, rust costs the US about 276 billion dollars per year.

Respect oxidation. It created you, and it will destroy you. And as we have seen above, it is necessary and 100% unavoidable. It is part of aging, part of growing up, and part of life. And while I must now go to sleep, I leave you with a reminder from Neil Young, that rust never does:

A Problem of Inertia

Hello? Has everyone left? I wouldn't blame you if you had...there hasn't been much to see...at least on THIS website. As I was writing that sentence, I imagined what it would be like if, all of a sudden, everyone got bored of the internet, and just decided to do something else. It doesn't really matter what people chose to do instead...the first thing that comes to my mind is to lie down on the ground...preferably a grassy ground, not too damp. Once on the ground, it would be okay to just lie there. If there were a hill around, it would be nice to roll down the hill, but if there were sharp rocks at the bottom of the hill, perhaps it would be best to remain stationary.

The internet has come to occupy a space that does not exist anywhere, really. Just think! If people stopped using the internet, it would feel like a ghost town. The ebay items would sit gathering dust on the shelves of their owners. The music from Myspace pages would go unheard like the dusty old player piano in a saloon. And (many, but certainly not all) facebook and flick'r photos would go unseen...but not un-missed... like a stack of sepia-tinted gelatin prints on the nightstand in a house that was left in a hurry. And then there is Twitter. Nobody will miss Twitter. A significant portion of people's lives exists on the internet. If that portion does not exist ENTIRELY on the internet, then the "real life" version is at least duplicated or represented in some digital form and stored on some server somewhere.

There are two voids that would be palpable if the internet were to stop existing. 1) A functional void...without google and wikipedia, nobody would know anything...especially me. And 2) an emotional void...people depend on websites for happiness to some extent...for example this website makes me VERY happy. I depend on it like I depend on neurotransmitters to tell me I'm okay. (That is an exaggeration, but I don't feel as though I am overstating the fact that people derive great pleasure from many things on the internet...sometimes, but not always at the expense of their pleasure in the real world). I think that is really pretty incredible that something which has no substance has expanded to occupy such an important part of our emotional lives.

I think I might have just described one of John's nightmares. Sorry John. There there, John. I think I also might have described one of the internet's nightmares...don't worry internet...if I'm not here for you...I know that John will be. Sorry John...I don't mean to pick on you...but can you deny your love for this web of knowledge and communication? And finally, I apologize to all of you...any of you... the none of you who may have been emotionally injured as a result of my lack of communication in these past five (!) weeks. You see, from a scientific perspective, this can be explained by a little something I (and everyone else in the world) like to call "inertia." This video, I think nicely captures the relevance of inertia in terms of human behavior:



Finally, this is the force that pushed me into action...it is a nice music video for a song by Pepi Ginsberg. It just looks like fun: