February 3, 2012

Heat


It's been a freezing cold day with a lot of heat.

At work today, I solved the heat equation. I try to simulate a stack of sedimentary rocks being heated by the crust below, and how temperature develops through geological time.

When I came back home, I lighted the fireplace to heat the kitchen and the living room. Then I made a hot meal for the kids.

Tomorrow is race day for little boy. This evening, I waxed his skis. It's a long and tedious process to do it properly: First, sharpen the edges with a file. Second, heat the wax with a waxing iron and melt it into the base. Third, scrape of the excess wax. Finally, brush and polish the base. Then the skis are ready for the super-G race.

Now I'm relaxing with a hot cup of tea.

My old lady has been away on a business trip today. When she comes home tonight, I hope the heat is on >;)

(I computed the plot above at work today. It shows the diffusion of heat from below through a package of sedimentary rocks. After 50 million years, hot magma intrudes the sediments. The time-step between each temperature curve is 10 million years ... not much God could have done about it in 6 days, and resting on the 7th.)

7 comments:

  1. is it just me or is it getting hot in here? :p

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  2. Hope your little boy does well in the race.
    And God's days are not the same as ours.

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  3. id: Would be interesting to know >:)

    Alex: I think God is using the same time scale as us. However, assuming for a moment that God exists, I think he may have used some simplifying and pedagogical metaphors explaining things to the people who helped him write the Bible 2-3000 years ago. It would be useless to try to explain the concepts of our contemporary science to people of ancient times.

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  4. Of course God uses metaphors. Didn't Jesus?

    Cold- Lotta love in them skis. I'm guessing your boy was on fire coming down the mountain. ;)

    Whoo, it's definitely hot in here.

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  5. Back before I became sensitive to everything, I enjoyed sitting next to the fireplace with a good book. I know, what a cliche. Now, I can't stand the smell of smoke. Not that it matters. This part of California skipped over winter.

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  6. Jayne: Yes, Jesus used metaphors all the time. Maybe he learnt it from his father, if they ever happened to meet. I've heard his fathers house has many rooms >:)

    Nellie: A good book by the fire place is great after a day of skiing.

    Enid: Yes, true. Maybe I'll write that story, but I'll probably leave out the wax >:)

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