“What I work on is called pattern formation: situations where nature produces some regular-looking structure, which we call a pattern, apparently for free, for nothing. So the classic example is that wind blows across some sand and the sand makes these beautiful little ripples. Where did the ripples come from?”
Stephen Morris, professor of physics at the University of Toronto, studies the science of emergent patterns. Beyond beauty, understanding the rules that drive these self-assembling patterns could help us build complex structures in new ways.
“Physics is a strange science, because its mandate is everything. Everything!” adds Morris. “If there’s something left unexplained then it’s our job to go in there and figure out what the physics of that thing is.”
It may seem like a small thing to leave unexplained, but icicles aren’t just smooth inverted cones of ice. They actually have regular bumps that form as they grow. How these bumps form and the reason they are so regular are a mystery.
Morris grows icicles under controlled conditions in his lab to try to understand the physics of their formation.
“We know everything about the shape of the icicle,” says Morris. “We know everything about its growth: the flow rate, the temperature, the water, the concentration of the water, the humidity, the state of motion of the air.”
Morris digitally reconstructs the three-dimensional shape of the icicle over time as it grows. Using a 3D printer, he can even print a plastic replica of the icicle at any snapshot in time.
The goal is to understand the rules that underlie the complex and ordered formations found in nature. Knowing how they work would enable researchers to engineer self-organization.
“The place where you see self-organization most clearly is in biology: you see an animal go from an egg to a fish, and each little part seems to know what to do to organize itself,” says Morris. “There’s no blueprint of the fish that the fish is following.”
The shapes that emerge spontaneously come from a dynamic process of growing, folding, crumpling, cracking, wrinkling, branching, flowing and other kinds of morphological development. These processes can be seen repeated in many systems, but there is nothing written into the genetic code directing them to unfold as they do.
“You can imagine that if we really understood this kind of self-organized process, we could do this, too,” says Morris. “We could build machines that built themselves, or processes or materials without us having to go in there and template every little bit.”
Today’s electronics rely entirely on a human plan, where every element is mapped out in advance and precisely placed one at a time in a factory.
“Imagine making a processor where you just dump all the components into a pot and heat it up or whatever, and like a fish it just builds itself,” says Morris. “That would be an amazing piece of technology. And that would be a self-organized complex system.”
Inspired by nature, understanding the physics behind emergent patterns could be the key to tomorrow’s self-assembling technologies.
<unk>Kile ninachofanya kazi juu yake kinaitwa muundo wa muundo: hali ambapo asili inazalisha muundo fulani wa kawaida, ambao tunauita muundo, inaonekana bure, bila malipo. Mfano wa kawaida ni upepo unaovuma kwenye mchanga na mchanga hufanya mawimbi haya madogo mazuri. "Kama ilivyoelezwa hapo juu, ""Stephen Morris, profesa wa fizikia katika Chuo Kikuu cha Toronto, anajifunza sayansi ya mifumo ya kuibuka." Zaidi ya uzuri, kuelewa sheria zinazoongoza mifumo hii ya kujiunganisha inaweza kutusaidia kujenga miundo tata kwa njia mpya. <unk> Fizikia ni sayansi ya ajabu, kwa sababu amri yake ni kila kitu. Kila kitu! " anaongeza Morris. "Ikiwa kuna kitu kilichobaki kisichojulikana basi ni kazi yetu kuingia ndani na kujua ni nini fizikia ya kitu hicho. "" Inaweza kuonekana kama kitu kidogo kuacha kisichojulikana, lakini icebergs si tu laini inverted cones ya barafu. """ Kwa kweli wana miiba ya kawaida ambayo hufanyizwa wanapoendelea kukua. Jinsi miundo hiyo inavyofanyizwa na sababu ya kuwa ya kawaida hivyo ni fumbo. Morris hukua chembe za barafu chini ya hali zilizodhibitiwa katika maabara yake ili kujaribu kuelewa fizikia ya kuundwa kwao. "Tunajua kila kitu kuhusu umbo la barafu", anasema Morris. "Tunajua kila kitu kuhusu ukuaji wake: kiwango cha mtiririko, joto, maji, mkusanyiko wa maji, unyevu, hali ya mwendo wa hewa. "" Morris digital reconstructs tatu-dimensional umbo la iceberg kwa muda kama inakua." Kwa kutumia printa ya 3D, unaweza kuchapisha picha ya plastiki ya barafu kwenye picha yoyote. Lengo ni kuelewa sheria zinazoongoza miundo tata na yenye utaratibu inayopatikana katika asili. Kujua jinsi wanavyofanya kazi kungewasaidia watafiti kubuni utaratibu wa kujipanga. "Mahali ambapo unaona kujipanga kwa uwazi zaidi ni katika biolojia: unaona mnyama akienda kutoka yai hadi samaki, na kila sehemu ndogo inaonekana kujua nini cha kufanya ili kujipanga", anasema Morris. "Hakuna muundo wa samaki ambao samaki anafuata. ""Mifano ambayo hutokea kwa hiari hutoka kwa mchakato wa nguvu ya kukua, folding, crumbling, cracking, wrinkling, branching, mtiririko na aina nyingine za maendeleo ya morphological. """ Utaratibu huu unaweza kuonekana ukiwa umerudiwa katika mifumo mingi, lakini hakuna kitu kilichoandikwa katika kanuni ya maumbile kinachowaelekeza kufunuliwa kama wanavyofanya. "Unaweza kufikiria kwamba ikiwa kweli tungelielewa aina hii ya mchakato wa kujipanga, tungeweza kufanya hili pia", anasema Morris. """Tungeweza kujenga mashine ambazo zilijijenga zenyewe, au michakato au vifaa bila sisi kuhitaji kwenda huko na template kila kidogo. "" Elektroniki ya leo hutegemea kabisa mpango wa binadamu, ambapo kila kipengele kinapangwa mapema na kuwekwa kwa usahihi moja kwa moja katika kiwanda." "Hebu wazia kufanya processor ambapo wewe tu kutupa vipengele vyote katika sufuria na joto juu au chochote, na kama samaki ni tu hujenga mwenyewe, "anasema Morris. <unk>Hiyo ingekuwa kipande cha ajabu cha teknolojia. Na hiyo ingekuwa mfumo tata wa kujipanga. Imechochewa na asili, kuelewa fizikia nyuma ya mifumo inayoibuka inaweza kuwa ufunguo wa teknolojia za kujikusanya za kesho.