The Physics of Anticipation

The Physics of Anticipation

I enrolled in physics three times in college and withdrew from the course each time because I simply could not understand it. A lack of comprehension of all things spatial forced me from Physics 101 to pre-physics to the equivalent of a "Physics for Complete and Utter Dummies" course until I finally retreated to Statistics for Teachers.

But metaphors have always intrigued me, and potential energy, the one concept I thoroughly understood from my three aborted attempts to study physics, has provided a lot of fodder.

To my professors, potential energy was "energy possessed by an object by virtue of its relative position or state," like the tension in a rubber-band ready to be snapped.

But, to me, potential energy is the physics of anticipation.

Potential energy is what I feel when I wait in line to see a Broadway show. Or that little thrill while I wait outside a diner to brunch and gossip with my best friends.

And, really, when I harness it correctly, anticipation is energy. Hum-drum Wednesday is the day when the weekend of the past is a distant memory and the weekend of the future is light-years away. But my plans for Friday night inspire energy, like a lighthouse-sighting by water-logged sailors.

Yes, physics as a science was a complete waste of time for me. But physics as a life-style? That's a whole different story.