When the Laws of Science Collide

One of the many things that I love about science is its universality in terms of application. Many scientific concepts have found their way in daily conversation and sometimes, their scientific root is forgotten.

In high school, chemistry and physics were two subjects I had to study. I loathed physics whereas chemistry was always the more interesting read (nothing beat biology, though). There were two concepts from these branches of science which have come to have a different meaning for me as time goes by: momentum and catalyst. One starts things off and the other technically gets the ball rolling.

A catalyst, if my high school memory would not fail me, is a substance which allows a chemical reaction to proceed at a much faster rate. The catalyst itself does not undergo any major change in the course of the chemical reaction. Momentum, on the other hand, is one of the simplest formulas to remember. It is simply defined as M = (m) (v) or mass multiplied by velocity. It is that amount or quantity of motion of a body which would depend on how heavy it is and on how fast it is going at a point in time. The easiest example for such a concept is a ball rolling (thus the last sentence in the previous paragraph). A bigger ball rolling at a faster speed naturally has more momentum than a smaller, slower ball. Both the concept of a catalyst and of momentum have no apparent relation in the realm of science but upon closer examination, one can see that both fit the earlier correlation I earlier made. As I said, a catalyst gets things started at a much faster rate whereas the momentum keeps the ball rolling.

In both the theoretical and the figurative sense, a catalyst may not be the equivalent of momentum. After all, what started the spark in the first place may not be the same as that which keeps the candle burning. The natural progress of the inquiry would then delve into the question of which among the two would be more important: the firestarter or the one which keeps the party going. An almost immediate answer would naturally point to momentum. After all, any explosion can start but if nothing propels it forward like a grenade launcher, it's going to pretty much burn itself into the oblivion that it dust particles. But upon closer introspection, the catalyst itself is also rather important. In the first place, it gives the push, the shove and practically determines how far one can go. It sets the direction for the movement, where everything is headed and whatever it is that needs to be hit, crashed into or, simply, achieved.

If every new door, every new opportunity, every new year were a catalyst, I'd wish it were the type that would accelerate the right chemical reaction at the right pace with a particular end product in mind. If it were to be the momentum one seeks, I wish it would be the perfect combination of the optimal mass, the appropriate speed, the best angle and the most favorable of circumstances so as to send any ball rolling and any pendulum swinging for as long as it is possible.