Plankton

“ The organisms constituting this plankton are mostly unicellular, often aggregated together in colonies, and the remarkable structure which they exhibit has added a new chapter to the story of adaptation to environment. The families Diatomaceae, Peridiniaceae and Protococcaceae are best represented in the pelagic plankton, while in addition the Volvocaceae are an important element in freshwater plankton. ”

“ PLANKTON. An ingenious plankton trap is placed in a river as part of a long-range study of radionuclide uptake by aquatic organisms.
SKATE. A clear-nosed skate being monitored by fisheries personnel to gather data on accumulation of radionuclides in its blood and tissues. ”

“ The inhabitants of this region, known collectively as plankton, spend their whole life swimming freely in the water, sometimes at the surface and sometimes in the deeper strata. They consist chiefly of Diatoms, Protozoa, Rotifera, and Crustacea. The pelagic Crustacea, especially the Cladocera, are often the most curiously and delicately built creatures. Leptodora hyalina, which is quite transparent, is the largest of them, attaining to three-quarters of an inch in length, though Bythotrephes longimanus is nearly as large if we include the immense spine which terminates the body. ”

“ The wealth Epiplankton. of minute organisms near the surface is inconceivable to those who have not seen the working of a two-net: it may be gauged by the fact that a single species is sometimes present in such quantities as to colour the sea over an appreciable area, and by the estimate that the skeletons of epiplankton from a square mile of tropical ocean a hundred fathoms deep would yield 16 tons of lime. In the tropics the wealth of species, and towards the poles the number of individuals of comparatively few species, are characteristic of the latitudes. ”

“ Wherever the plancton goes, there is living animation, grouping itself in closely packed colonies. The purest and most translucent salt water shows under certain luminous rays a multitude of little bodies as restless as the dust motes that dance in shafts of sunlight. These transparent beings mingled with microscopic algae and embryonic mucosities are the plancton. In its dense mass, scarcely visible to the human eye, float the siphonoforas, garlands of entities united by a transparent thread as fragile, delicate and luminous as Bohemian crystal. ”

“ As to the question of principle formulated by Planck, I would suspect that the gentlemen under 40 years prefer the electrodynamic postulate, that those over 40 years prefer the mechanical-relativistic postulate. I prefer the electrodynamic. (Laughter.)
Kaufmann: To the postulate-question I would like to say that the epistemological value of the postulate of relative motion is, however, not very large, as it is only useful for uniform translation. As soon as we take into account rotation and irregular motions, we don't get along with it. ”

“ In the absence of any method of introducing this temperature equilibrium directly, Planck originally sought, in the case of each, independent constituent, for a function of its intensity of energy and its wave-length, restricted as to form by a certain assumed molecular relation, which has the property of continually increasing after the manner of entropy, during the progress of that constituent of the radiation in such a system towards its steady state. ”

“ First of all, it is easy to see that the macro-observer reckons only with mean values; for what he calls density, visible velocity and temperature of the gas are, for the micro-observer, certain mean values, statistical data, which are derived from the space distribution and from the velocities of the atoms in an appropriate manner. But the micro-observer cannot operate with these mean values alone, for, if these are given at one instant of time, the progress of the process is not determined throughout ”

“ That these dynamical laws are inexact to any such extent as the divergence between theory and experiment would indicate, is inconceivable; that they are insufficient when applied to motions of electrons in such intense fields as occur within the atom seems no longer open to doubt. In order to obtain a radiation formula in accord with experiment Planck has found it necessary to extend the atomic idea to energy, which he conceives to exist in multiples of a fundamental quantum hν, ν being the frequency and h Planck’s constant. ”

“ Planchette smiled again.
“In other words,” he went on, with the mathematician’s natural stubborn propensity for logic, “in order to resist the force of the incoming water, it would be necessary to exert, upon every part of the large surface, a force equal to that brought into action in the vertical column, but with this difference—if the column of liquid is a foot in height, the thousand little columns of the wide surface will only have a very slight elevating power. ”

“ Inasmuch as entropy is an abstruse concept drawn from thermodynamics, we see that the facts entering indirectly into the problem of radiation were considerably increased in number. Obviously, it would be quite impossible either to justify or to criticise Planck’s hypothesis by any general line of talk, for without the aid of the mathematical instrument, and a knowledge of thermodynamics and mechanics, no conceivable connection could be seen to exist between a discontinuous emission and the facts disclosed by experiment ”

“ Planck offered modified forms of Stokes’ theory which seemed capable of being reconciled with the Michelson-Morley experiment, but required very special assumptions. The very complexity and the very arbitrariness of these assumptions prevented Planck’s ether from attaining any degree of practical importance in the further development of the subject.
The sole criterion of the value of any scientific theory must ultimately be its capacity for offering a simple, unified, coherent and fruitful description of observed facts. ”

“ But this again brings no additional information to scientists; for the anti-metaphysical attitude was already that of science prior to Einstein’s discoveries, and was expressed in Planck’s statement: “What can be measured is what exists.”
For similar reasons the theory brings home to us with increased force a truth already recognised by science, namely, that space, time and simultaneity are concepts which can be studied only by empirical methods, by the use of rods, clocks and physical processes, and, more generally, by investigating the simplest co-ordinations of physical laws. ”

“ The latent energy is quite independent of the temperature and the motion of chemical atoms, [18] its location is therefore to be found within the chemical atom; by its nature it could be of potential nature but just as well be of kinetic nature. For nothing hinders us to accept, which would even be considered very probably especially by the electrodynamic point of view, that within the chemical atoms certain stationary motion processes in the form of standing oscillations take place, associated with none or only small radiation. ”

“ Even before the appearance of the papers by Lorentz and Jeans, Planck (1900) had derived theoretically a formula for the black body radiation which was in good agreement with the results of experiment. Planck did not limit himself exclusively to the classical electrodynamics, but introduced the further assumption that a system of oscillating electrical particles (elementary resonators) will neither radiate nor absorb energy continuously, as required by the ordinary electrodynamics, but on the contrary will radiate and absorb discontinuously. ”

“ By luck the plane of the observer was missed, and the television set clicked steadily on as the questing beams were reduced to five, and now the ground was flooded with blinding light. A moment later the side of one of the great ships opened, and from it a gangplank thrust itself. Then from it there came a stream of men, but men with great chests, great ears, thin arms and legs; men that must have stood ten feet high. Painfully they scrambled down the plank, toiling under the greater gravity of Earth. ”

“ Planck: Abraham is right when he says the main advantage of the sphere theory would be that it would be a purely electrical theory. If this were feasible that would be very nice, for now it is only a postulate. The Lorentz-Einstein theory is based on a postulate, namely that no absolute translation can be demonstrated. It seems that the two postulates can not be united, and now it depends on which postulate is to be preferred. That of Lorentz is more sympathetic to me. It's probably the best thing when work continues in both areas and the experiments eventually give the decision. ”

“ We reply by the insertion of the following rules, which should be read in connection with the descriptive paragraph near the commencement of this pamphlet:
RULES TO BE OBSERVED IN USING PLANCHETTE.
For some persons (strong magnetizers) , “Planchette” moves at once, and for one such person it moves rapidly and writes distinctly. With such a person it is not necessary for another to put their hands on; it will operate alone for them, and better than with two persons. ”

“ In doing this we have spared no labor nor expense. The directions of the winds (loxodromic lines) we have laid down with great exactness for the use of sailors, as those experienced in navigation will see on close inspection. Farewell and be happy. Peter Plancius.” This gives us definitely to understand that this terrestrial globe was the work of Plancius.
The sphere is covered with a world map engraved on twelve gores, truncated at latitude 70 degrees, the polar spaces being covered by the usual circular discs, each having in this case a radius of twenty degrees. ”

“ The micro-observer needs only to assimilate in his theory the physical hypothesis that all those special cases in which special exceptional conditions exist among the neighboring configurations of interacting atoms do not occur in nature, or, in other words, that the micro-states are in elementary disorder. Then the uniqueness of the macroscopic process is assured and with it, also, the fulfillment of the principle of increase of entropy in all directions. ”

“ From the top of the precipice a railed plank shot boldly out into mid-air. A rude scaffolding, planted firmly in the rock of the precipice, supported it with iron bars. On the opposite bank the trunk of a giant oak formed the support. In the middle there was a yawning gap of from ten to twelve feet. Like two arms longingly outstretched but never meeting, the planks branched forth on either side above the abysmal depths.
If they had never reached each other the crime would never have come to pass. But an easier job for a joiner could not be conceived. ”

“ It follows from this of necessity that the micro-observer must either give up the attempt to understand the unique progress, in accordance with experience, of the macroscopic changes of state—and this would be the end of the atomic theory—or that he, through the introduction of a special physical hypothesis, restrict in a suitable manner the manifold of micro-states considered by him. There is certainly nothing to prevent him from assuming that not all conceivable micro-states are realizable in nature, and that certain of them are in fact thinkable, but never actually realized. ”

“ But the principle of least action is not sufficient for a complete foundation of the dynamics of ponderable bodies; because by itself it provides no replacement - which has proven above to be untenable and which should not be introduced here - for splitting the energy of a body in kinetic and internal energy. On the other hand, such a replacement is in prospect in a complete way for the introduction of another theorem: the "principle of relativity as expressed by H. A. Lorentz [2] and in the most general form by A. Einstein [3] . ”

“ I said, "while we hold to this theory, have the feeling of the otherwise helpless sinking man, who is cleaving to a plank that just bears him up even with the surface of the water. In the choice between the plank and destruction, the advantage is decidedly on the side of the plank." ”

“ If a body whose state at rest is given by the variables , is adiabatically brought to velocity , then the state variables assume the value:
These equations are in agreement with the results of the paper of Planck [2] . Besides thermodynamics, Planck used the relativity principle, while stating equation (10) for momentum is essential in our work. ”

“ The energy contained within the system at any moment is always equal to a whole multiple of the so-called quantum of energy the magnitude of which is equal to , where is Planck's constant and is the frequency of oscillation of the system per second. In formal respects Planck's theory leaves much to be desired; in certain calculations the ordinary electrodynamics is used, while in others assumptions distinctly at variance with it are introduced without any attempt being made to show that it is possible to give a consistent explanation of the procedure used. ”

“ In the investigation of the properties of the state of black radiation the nature of the bodies which are supposed to be in the vacuum is therefore quite immaterial, and it is certainly immaterial whether such bodies actually exist anywhere in nature, so long as their existence and their properties are compatible throughout with the laws of electrodynamics and of thermodynamics. ”

“ The Pacific giant, without teeth, supplies his organism with plancton alone, absorbing it by the ton; that imperceptible and crystalline manna nourishes his body (looking like an overturned belfry) , and makes purple, fatty rivers of warm blood circulate under its oily skin.
The transparency of the beings in the plancton recalled to Ferragut's memory the marvelous colorings of the inhabitants of the sea, adjusted exactly to their needs of preservation. The species that live on the surface have, as a general rule, a blue back and silver belly. ”