Friday, February 27, 2009

Conservation of Socks? I think not.

A little background: If you ever take Physics (or Chemistry, or maybe even Biology, or maybe even Earth Science), you'll learn about the Conservation of Energy. This basically means that energy can't be created or destroyed; the amount of energy in the universe never changes, it just gets converted into other forms.

"But what about when I ride a bike? I'm creating kinetic energy [[energy due to motion]] then!" No, you're not creating kinetic energy. You've simply converted the chemical energy stored in your muscles to mechanical energy, pedaling the bike. That chemical energy comes from the food you eat. The energy in the food (let's say you ate an apple) comes from the sun (photosynthesis)- if you're eating meat, the energy you get comes from the energy stored in the animal's muscles, which comes from plants. Pretty cool, huh? The amount of energy that was in the universe 3 billion years ago is the same amount today. Energy doesn't just magically disappear or appear; it is converted from one form to another (i.e. mechanical to electrical). Awesome.

However, there is, apparently, no such thing as the Conservation of Socks.

How would I know this? Experience.

See, I used to have this thing when I was home that I would go in to one room, decide my feet were too hot, and take off my socks. I don't really do that any more. But I do wear socks, and I swear, the amount of socks in the world (or at least, the amount of socks that are under my ownership) does not obey the law of conservation.

I usually wear socks to sleep, because usually my feet are cold. But then I'll wake up in the morning, and one sock, sometimes two, has (have) fallen off of my foot (feet). So I'll pick up the blankets, and search around... and there is, approximately, a 50% chance that I will not find the sock. I search and search... and no sock. It's like the sock just disappears.

Sometimes, I'll take my shoes off, and leave my socks in my shoes, and they might not be there when I get back.

When I stay somewhere (besides my home) overnight, I pack a pair of socks (so, including the pair I'm wearing, I'll have 2 pairs). There is approximately a 20% chance that I will return home with 3 socks or fewer.

Last July, I probably had 15 pairs of nice, white, normal socks. I have not given any away, nor have I sold any. But now, I'm somehow down to like... 5 (I have other socks- fuzzy ones, polka dot ones, but I like plain white socks best). Where have all my socks gone? I have no clue.


***EDIT 3/3/09- this picture explains everything. ***

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