Earl Krueger on sun 26 aug 07
On 8/24/07, Joseph Herbert wrote:
>
> Thinking about the actual melting mechanism for powdered
> glaze material always makes my head hurt anyway. "This particle is next
> to
> this other particle and knows that the other particle has atoms in it that
> makes the melting point of both of them lower than either alone." Is
> there
> yelling across the gap? How do they know?
>
Joseph,
I liken the melting of a glaze to a dance.
Imagine in the beginning (low temperature) there
are two separated groups of friends (particles) and
everyone is doing a slow dance with couples
(molecules) holding tightly to each other. Since
there is not much movement the two groups retain
their identity.
As the tempo (temperature) picks up the dancers
become more energetic. The couples hold each
other a little less tightly, there is more bumping
together of couples and some overlap occurs
between groups.
Increase (the temperature) to a 50's Do-Whop and
there is a lot of activity going on. Couples still hang
together, but only tenuously by their hands (molecular
bonds are stretched to the limit) and there is a lot of
intermingling between groups. The original structure
is breaking down.
Advance to the frenzied chaos of Punk Rock and
all structure ceases to exist. There is no group
identity any longer; they have fused together into
one writhing mass. Couples break up and reform
willy-nilly with the most tenuous of bonds. A
complete melt-down has occurred.
This analogy doesn't have the exactitude of
science but it provides me with a mental picture
that relieves my glaze-melting anxiety.
However, if this analogy also holds true for
society, my anxiety increases.
Earl...
Earl Krueger
Oregon, usa
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