The Science of Diwali
The Diya: -
The simple clay diya with
oil and cotton wick can be transformed into a
mini-universe when we look at it through a scientific
magnifying glass.
It represents everything
we see around us. From black body radiation, gravity,
Bernoulli's principle to thermodynamics etc, everything
is on display around the small diya. A a simple thing
like a diya encompasses wide scientific concepts, it
will be interesting.
The force of adhesion is
explained with the way the wick and oil interact. One
molecule of the ground nut oil contains 56 carbon atoms,
104 hydrogen atoms and 6 oxygen atoms. The wick is made
of cotton, which are strands of fibres. The cotton wick
we dip in the groundnut oil in the lamp absorbs the oil
due to the force of adhesion. The oil molecules stay
together in the lamp because of the forces of cohesion.
When we light the oil lamp, the oil is continuously
supplied to the wick by the action of capillarity.
The oil in the diya rises
against gravity. If you observe the lit oil lamp, you
will observe the wick above the oil. How does the oil
rise against the gravity? The adhesive force between the
wick molecules is greater than cohesive forces between
the oil molecules, as a result there is a pressure
gradient created, which makes the liquid to rise against
the gravity.
The five elements are also
represented in the diya. Earth element is represented by
the diya, oil and cotton wick. Fire is the light itself.
Sky element is light around the flame, which is space
around earth. Air is the oxygen diffused from air to
wick and water is the H2O molecules formed at the
combustion of oil.
So, when we light the oil
lamp on Diwali, we symbolically represent the universe
at our door step.
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