What the Moon Has to Do with Mechanical Engineering

Abstract

You are probably familiar with situations where a child doesn’t stop asking its why-questions. My brother-in-law once told me the story of his little daughter, Barbara, who went on and on asking why things are as they are, until he finally had to say, “Now look, my dear girl. I really don’t know the answer myself.” However, the child didn’t accept this and said, “That doesn’t matter. Answer anyway!” Obviously, our urge to know and understand the principles behind our experiences seems to be determined deeply in our genes. Most likely, the subjects of these questions have been the same for thousands of years; only the answers have changed over time. In order to get an idea what these subjects are, we only must listen to the questions of the children: “Why doesn’t coffee smell like perfume? Why did the stone I threw into the pool sink to the bottom? Why is the sky blue? Where do clouds come from? Why do these metal pins stick to this piece of iron? Why is there thunder and lightning? How is it possible that a big plant grows out of such a small seed? Why can’t grandma who died yesterday be brought back to life again? Why are the stars so small and the moon so big?”