[Avodah] Impurities sometimes flow upwards

[Micha Berger]

 From the Physics arXiv's blog. ("The Physics arXiv Blog ... coverage
of the best new ideas from an online forum ... on which scientists post
early versions of their latest ideas.")
<http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/26771>

    Contaminants Can Flow Up Waterfalls, Say Physicists
    Physicists have discovered an entirely new process of upstream
    contamination -- by studying the behaviour tea leaves

    Here's a curious phenomenon.

    The south American drink 'mate' is a tea-like beverage in which
    finely cut, dried leaves from the yerba mate herb are infused in
    hot water. The dried leaves, just a few square mm in size, tend to
    float on the surface of the water

    While pouring the hot water onto the leaves, Ernesto Althsuler and
    buddies at the University of Havana in Cuba, noticed a puzzling
    phenomenon. They found that, sometimes, the leaves would somehow
    travel upstream and end up contaminating the upstream container of
    pure water.

    Being diligent physicists, they decided to investigate. They found
    that the leaves (and also chalk powder) were able to navigate upstream
    if the waterfall was less than about a centimetre in height. "For
    distances of the order of 1 cm or less, some of the floating particles
    eventually start to "climb up the stream"," they say.

    How can this be? Altshuler and co say the geometry of the system
    is important. Their set up consists of a relatively long horizontal
    channel, along which the water flows, followed by a short drop into
    the infusion (see diagram above)....

(Much about vortexes deleted)

Relevence to Avodah? See Yadayim 4:7. A nitzoq, a poured stream, into a
tamei keli passes tum'ah back up the stream. The Tzequdim disagreed. R'
Lawrence Schiffman notes that the "Halachic Letter" 4QMMT found at Qumran
states like the Tzeduqim. ("Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls", pg 87.)

It would seem that in physics, it takes a long horizontal flow followed
by a tiny drop in order for physical impurities to make their way up
the flow. Apparently metaphysical vortexes are far larger than their
physical counterparts.

According to what I proposed here in the past, halakhah is based
on psychology and existentialism more than physics, and thus the
"metaphysical vortex" is another term for our experiencing their
connection.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Today is the 30th day, which is
micha at aishdas.org        4 weeks and 2 days in/toward the omer.
http://www.aishdas.org   Gevurah sheb'Hod: When does capitulation
Fax: (270) 514-1507                  result in holding back from others?