The Relations of Science and Religion: The Morse Lecture, 1880Calderwood, Henry
Religion
The Relations of Science and Religion: The Morse Lecture, 1880
Calderwood, Henry
Religion and science
Energy is the term now employed to designate every form of power
belonging to the physical world capable of doing work, and of being
estimated according to the comparative amount of work it can perform.
The whole phenomena of motion thus belong to this department of inquiry.
The first distinction here has been described as the difference between
_energy of position_ and _energy of motion_.[AG] Both of these must be
taken into account in order to have a full view of the facts. ENERGY OF
POSITION, is illustrated by a water-head, or reservoir, where an
accumulation of water is laid up in store, ready to be drawn upon for
motive power when machinery set up in a position somewhat lower is to be
brought into action and made to do the work for which it has been
constructed. ENERGY OF MOTION is seen when the storehouse of water is
opened and the rush of the current sweeps along the prepared channel
descending upon the great wheel, which sets in motion the whole
machinery. In such a case as this, the amount of work done by the
revolutions of the great wheel is an exact measure of the amount of
water which has passed to a lower level. Or let us suppose there is only
a limited supply in the water-head, and that there are no feeders, but
that the streamlets and springs from which it is supplied, have ceased
to flow, and let us suppose that the mill comes to a stand because of
failure of motive power, the amount of work done up to that moment is
the measure of the energy stored in the water-head before the sluice
was opened. This illustration indicates the mode of calculation to be
applied to energy in all its forms, including the great forces of
nature, before which human power is as nothing. Taking thus the
correlatives position and motion, we may regard the former as
preparation for the latter, for, as Professor Balfour Stewart has said,
"It is the fate of all kinds of energy of position to be ultimately
converted into energy of motion."[AH] On this account, energy of motion
most naturally exemplifies what we understand by energy; but on the
other hand what has been called the energy of position must be regarded
as a power distinctly calculable. If a stone be thrown into the air, the
energy expended in propelling it to a certain height, is the exact
measure of the energy expended in its descent. There is no need for
entering here upon the calculations of the relation between energy and
velocity, showing the exact proportion of the one to the other, or the
ratio of increase according to velocity, which is expressed in the
formula "that the energy varies as the square of the velocity," giving
us an exact measure of force.
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