THE BEAUTY OF SCIENCE

Yash Kamath
12 A

People frequently ask me and my friends and well co-students, what field have they taken in science. The most frequent of them being- Engineering or medical? Which one did you choose? What do you plan to do? Why didn’t you take this field? Or this one? You have more scope in that one? Oh, my uncle’s son is doing this, why don’t you try it? Oh, this is trending do try it? All of them valid questions I suppose, out of concern and experience. But that’s not what I am here to talk about today. I wish to talk about the reason why science is beautiful and logical. The most common aspect that I would like to diverge from is that science for some is a subject that is to get marks in the exam and pass, physics being one of that sort. Objective papers and entrance exam frenzy has called upon the students to brutally focus their brain onto the right answer and why it is the right answer. It however diverges from original thought and that is what stings me most. People would follow blindly if someone tells them that this is so. If you want marks, follow these words exactly. These words only, they say. But plenty said about the tormentors and tormented, let’s get to the real part of it. Now you might ask me, what is the beauty in science? And people have asked me that. And I have often said the same thing to people with their noses always into books trying to fit into their mind why that 2 went into the superscript of that concentration term. That and what not. I find many people learning up reactions and all as if it’s the end. And they always asked me, what else could be done? How do I study? And I didn’t have an answer, then. I do have it now. I admit that I am fairly unwell at mugging up things and first go, but understanding the process is an entirely different thing. And here is the important part. What is the drift velocity of electrons in a current carrying conductor? Few might give out the formula, few might put through the definition. But what is it you ask, how do you visualise something like that. And that is where the objective brain stops and the subjective begins. And not exactly subjective I may say. The creative and the thinkative brain. How would I see it? Imagine being stuck on the road in a car, packed traffic, lots of other cars. And now imagine 15 bikes going through the space between the cars. In the traffic, these bikes hit, scratch and damage the cars. But being as they are, the riders scold the drivers and move ahead. The cars are the atoms and the bikes are the electrons. That is just one aspect. And each and every concept of physics can be seen that way. Capacitors can be storage tanks and batteries are motors that fill them up, resistors are the blocks, junk and turns in the pipes, etcetera etcetera etcetera. And now I know that they’ll be asking, what of chemistry? Then I say to them, think of elements as individuals and that is the most happiest realisation that you will get. It will feel as if they talk to you about their daily troubles, their quarrels with each other and their bonds. Once you get to that point, I feel, science would seem not as a subject but as an adventure, a quest to explore something that was only thought of in dreams and to make it a reality. In my experience, though very short I admit, of the past 1½ year, I found in my classes, that some people ask me to stop when I question a teacher with the subject, feeling that I either am wasting time or am just plain trying to test the teacher. But being apologetic for gaining knowledge either by asking or by cross verifying never got anyone anywhere. Nor does it help the ones who pull you down. To them the least. In the end, I would like to say that. Yeah, science may seem hanging on you at times asking you questions all the time and pestering you with equations and theories and what not. But it is after all a thought. And she is the thought of knowledge. Treat her well. See her beauty and for that she will reward you for it. And science is believe me, truly very beautiful.