Living Room Physics

If you are curious to know more about the world around you and wish to learn about the principles of
physics, look no further than my living room couch. There you will find a beautiful illustration of the law of inertia.

Each day as I continue to wear a butt groove in the sofa cushion, sifting through channels with remote in hand, I often chastise myself for being lazy.

But recently I had a "eureka" moment. I discovered something about my universe that didn't involve my being your standard couch potato.

It happened while I settled on a channel playing a movie that I own in my DVD collection. Not ten feet away was the key to watching the movie unedited for content, uninterrupted by commercial breaks and in full screen. Yet I sat watching it on TV. Why?

It wasn't inertia at all. It wasn't laziness. It was potential energy.

All I needed was to apply some outside force in order to transfer and transform the existing energy. I just wasn't doing so.

Let's look at this hypothetically in more detail.

If, for example, the channel happens to fall on ABC Family where Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire happens to be playing, I am not making a decision to dedicate several hours of my life to watching it because I can walk away at any time. However, if I were to walk across the room, select it from my DVD collection and put it in the player, I am making a choice to dedicate a chunk of my life to it. Therefore, if I watch it on TV, it doesn't really count as watching it. Even if I end up glued to the screen for three hours.

Now let's take this a step further.

Consider Twilight. Hypothetically. Even though I might telegraph to Bella time and time again that Edward is a douche and she has a real relationship with Jacob (and Jacob is hotter), I'm not actually personally invested in the film. Having to endure commercial blocks absolves me of any perceived attachment. It doesn't even count if I record it, fast forward through the commercials, then promptly delete it from my DVR.

And if I cry during Fireproof? I don't need to bother convincing myself that my tears are real. Heck, I don't even need to acknowledge them at all. It's simply facial precipitation that coincides with a movie about – you guessed it – transfer of energy. It's the physics that moves me, not the jaded plotline of personal transformation. Duh.

And, quite frankly, after all the mental energy I've expended exploring these phenomena, I am further convinced that I have now successfully demonstrated kinetic energy by getting off the couch and coming to my desk to share my findings. (You're welcome.)

Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a Nobel to accept.