WittSem 100L: Patterns in Nature, Fall 2007

Assignment for Thursday Aug 30

Reading: Stevens, Ch. 4 (Spirals, Meanders, and Explosions); selection from Haldane’s “on being the right size” As you read, jot down (for your own reference) answers and thoughts about the following. Bring them to class (we'll use them in class discussion).

Note that the “Karman vortex street” mentioned on p. 81 of Stevens is discussed in Ch. 3, which we skipped, but the only thing you need to know about the Karman vortex street is that it's a series of alternating clockwise and counterclockwise eddies that often form when something flows around an obstacle (see http://www.efluids.com/efluids/gallery/gallery_pages/street_page.htm for an example)

enantiomorphic : what does it mean? Examples?

difference between an Archimedean and a logarithmic or equiangular spiral

how spirals can form through centrifugal force

how spirals can form through wrapping (coil of rope)

how spirals (curls) can form through growth or shrinking of material

three ways of forming meanders

differences and similarities: circular explosions and linear explosions, simple vs. compound explosion

how spikes in splashes form

Why does Haldane say “the higher animals are not larger than the lower because they are more complicated. They are more complicated because they are larger.”?

Do eye and brain sizes scale up just as fast as the overall size of organisms? Why or why not?