Yesterday my daughter asked, “Daddy, if hydrogen and oxygen are light enough to float, why is water so heavy?”
I opened my mouth to answer but had to shut it again. As my old SAT scores would prove, there’s a reason I’m a writer and not a physicist.
So I looked it up and, despite the scientific details I could not grasp, I understood the essence: when separated, both hydrogen and oxygen gases are lighter than air. Yet, when two positively charged hydrogen atoms encounter a negatively charged oxygen atom, the three bind so tightely together that their mass becomes very dense. They are now that crucial, weighty liquid: water.
An AI adaptation of Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man created using ChatGPT and GeminiAI.
Don’t ask my why but then I thought about us men and how aimlessly we tend to float around when widely separated. Your average hermit or man alone doesn’t have much impact. Leaving out guys like the Unabomber, we tend to live quietly, harmlessly, and with little impress on the world.
But when we bump into one another we become densely packed — incredibly close and tightly bonded. In short, together we become something else, something separate from our individual selves —something weightier and more impactful. And, in my view anyway, these tight bonds are critical to the conditions for life.
And then I thought — though it is probably taking the analogy too far — that in that condensed and liquid form, we also advance in waves. Each successive generation procedes from a tiny ripple to a tall, imposing, and powerful crest, and ends by breaking: foaming up on the beach and, with a sighing whisper, receding.
But between crest and backwash lies a period when older men, even as they recede, may call to those arising in their wake, using their own mass of wisdom to push the oncoming combers upwards to greater height and power.
There may be much we older men may not know — for example, why water is heavier than its component gases. Yet, at least we can impart what wisdom and force we have gained, giving all that we can of ourselves to assist the onrushing swell.
About the Author
Dan Kempner is the Executive Editor of MDI Legacy Magazine. He is based in Sheffield, England, where he lives, works, writes, and cultivates a tiny pear tree.
He is very happily married with two young daughters.
A Word on the Frontispiece
The Frontispiece is an adaptation of Hokusai’s The Great Wave, plate 1 in the series 36 Views of Mt. Fuji. It was created using Gemini and ChatGPT AI.
A Word on the Images
The Frontispiece is an AI adaptation of one of Hokusai’s The Great Wave versions. It was created using Gemini and ChatGPT AI.
