The humble, yet amazing, hug!
My daughter gave me a hug this morning and it reminded me of a discussion I had with some of my students about energy transfer (yes, let’s just gloss over the fact a hug reminded me of a lesson and move on).
A hug feels good right? A warm, snuggly, comforting connecting between two people. But why? Where does the warmth come from? You see, when two objects connect, thermodynamics dictate heat energy will move from the warmer object to cooler seeking to balance both sides out. Which in-it-self is an amazing notion that a hug is serving to make two people equal (at least in terms of thermodynamics). As endothermic beings, we generate that heat through millions of tiny exothermic chemical reactions in our cells. The amazing biochemistry of turning chemical potential energy into heat (and other forms of energy) is keeping us a nice snuggly 37.5 degrees Celsius (on average). We get this chemical energy from what we consume and this can be traced all the way back through the food chain to the fundamental photosynthetic reactions that trap light from the sun and convert it into energy that eventually finds its way into our food. BUT, since we know energy can neither be created or destroyed, we can go back even further… We know the sun’s energy comes from nuclear fusion reactions taking place deep in its core. These being the result of billions of years of energy conversions of all types since the dawn of the universe. It’s primordial cosmic energy at its most essential converting and reconverting since the beginnings of the universe (and before that, I’ll leave up to your own conclusions) all the way down to those chemical reactions going on inside our bodies. So next time we hug someone or get a hug … take a moment and think this person is not just giving me a hug… they are transferring the very energy that is the foundation of the universe through themselves into you, becoming part of you, helping you survive.
The not so humble hug – transferring cosmic energy between people since the dawn of time.