Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Contest
This is the official announcement of the first quasi-annual "Dr. Jekyll and
Mr. Hyde" contest. You are each invited to submit to me by email a short
answer to the question: which of the electric flux or electric flow
(potential) is more like Dr. Jekyll and which is more like Mr. Hyde? I will
post all of your solutions to the course website on the morning of Wednesday,
Oct 20th.
Your submissions will be "peer-reviewed" by yourselves, under the criteria of
physical insight, persuasiveness, and cleverness. Each person can cast one
vote to myself by email, and the winner will be announce during class on
Friday Oct 22. The prize will be 5 bonus points on Exam 2.
Winning response:
From Wikipedia: "This idea represents a concept in Western culture, that of
the inner conflict of humanity's sense of good and evil. In particular the
story has been interpreted as an examination of the duality of human nature
(that good and evil exists in all), and that the failure to accept this
tension (to accept the evil or shadow side) results in the evil being
projected onto others. If someone banishes all evil to the unconscious mind
in an attempt to be wholly and completely good, it can result in the
development of a Mr Hyde-type aspect to that person's character. This failure
to accept the tension of duality is related to Christian theology, where
Satan's fall from Heaven is due to his refusal to accept that he is a created
being (that he has a dual nature) and is not God."
Conclusion: the flux is Satan (evil). Also, evil can be projected, and since
flux is a vector, it can also be projected. :)
Christopher Crawford