Lessons from density

My prediction yesterday was correct and today was a much better day. We were able to finish what we needed to get done. Math and grammar were completed despite no one being particularly enamored of figuring the difference between simple and compound sentences and we completed our unit on density in chemistry. 

As you can imagine, we did a lot of sinking and floating experiments for working on density as well as a lot of weighing and using calculators for computing different substances' actual density. I'm happy to report that people are pretty secure in their use of D=m/v. Heck, I probably understand it now far better than I ever did. I've also repeated the formula out loud enough times that I am unlikely to forget it.

One of the exercises had the students try to predict whether a tree branch or a grain of sand had more density. Now, we had just done a hands-on experiment with clay and wax where the smaller piece of clay was far more dense than the larger piece of wax. This question was a variation on that. Inevitably, everyone decided that the tree branch had more density than the grain of sand. They just couldn't get away from the extreme size difference between the two. Surely a large tree branch had greater density than a teeny tiny grain of sand. 

After their predictions, we then went on to work out why a tree branch is actually less dense than a grain of sand; why a tree branch floats and a grain of sand sinks in water. The science-y answer all has to do with the types of atoms they are each made of up and how those atoms fit together. The floating or sinking part of the question has to do with how each of them compares with the density of water. The tree branch is less dense than water so it floats, the grain of sand is more dense than the water so it sinks. The second they realized that they had been comparing the wrong things, they understood where their initial hypothesis went wrong. I'm quite sure this is why the book chose those to things to use. 

I've been thinking about this ever since we discussed it earlier this week. How many times do we do this in our lives... this comparing of things which have no relation to each other? We look at other people and compare ourselves to them, trying to sort out who is better, more organized, prettier, smarter, a better parent, richer, has an easier life, nicer, etc., etc., etc. When we do that we are not asking the right questions. It's not how we compare with others, it is how we are floating or sinking in our own lives. If life is hard and people are still having their basic needs met, then maybe that is what floating for you looks like right now. Whether someone else is or isn't succeeding truly has no bearing on what is happening with you. Yet because we are in proximity to each other, we mistake a causal relationship, just like when my children mistakenly thought the very large object and the very small object determined the other's basic nature. 

So the next time you think to yourself, "Why can't I be more like her?" just stop for a minute and remind yourself you are asking the wrong question. Everyone's life and experiences and temperament are extremely different. How each person interacts with the broader world is different. If we can understand that a chemical compound is going to do very different things from another chemical compound, for instance how each reacts with or functions in water, then why can't we give ourselves the same understanding. The water didn't change between what was put in it, but the effect was different. Everyone has a life, but how that life plays out for any one individual is unique. Sometimes we can float along without a care in the world and other times we sink like a rock. The branch didn't do something "right" in order to float and the sand didn't do something "wrong". Oftentimes this is very true for people as well. Relish your uniqueness.