Quantum Computing

let it be declared at the outset

QC ain't much of a new physical concept

a fancy idea floated by physicists

grabbed by engineers and turned to shit

at its core lies the simple premise

if information may in classical bits comprise

single of the two to the power n states at a time

why not go quantum and be all of them - a new computational paradigm.

the classical computational philosophy

be rather simple and working well so far as we see

go through the states one by one

till you arrive at the solution

the quantum bit though gets quite tricky

coz you have all the states at the same time, you see

now work you must well on your algorithm

how will you extract the desired rhythm 

qubit be the bit equivalent

it be manipulated to make use of wave interference

but the darn thing needs to be kept in place

in order to avoid its decoherence

quite a few ways out there to achieve

but none too good on energy

from sticking an atom in a crystal

to current loops in a superconductor

so, now you got the system set right

and some algorithms to read things bright

what do you do with it, is a common ask

and sadly there ain't much as for the number of tasks

factorization with utmost efficiency and force 

simulate the quantum world, of course

unstructured searches in a database get fast

and possibly aid in machine learning, if we get that smart.

much ado for very little this be

suited for just a few complexities

can't see much of humanity it affect

fun play thing of hoity engineers for respect.

General Theory of Relativity

started with a happy thought

in the head of a patent clerk -

if i fall freely i shan't feel my weight -

and would you believe the path it set.

First came the principle of equivalence

claiming that a frame of reference

moving with acceleration

is but akin to the field of gravitation.

So far so good all easy all merry

but the next in the chain be profound very -

what baffled Newton and forced him to deity

was thought by one to be the physics of geometry

known was the time to be like the space

not 'space' and 'time' but 'space-time' in place

and to imagine that it curves, is a solid feat

but it had to be shown by the mathematics

years were spent by a genius brain

the intricacies that differential geometry ordained

but then came out in all its glory

almost a decade for the whole theory

gravity be but nothing more than 

a curvature in the space-time span

every single energy-momentum density

does the curving without impunity

the larger ball sinks deeper on a rubber sheet

makes tiny marbles revolve around it

sun and moon and you and me

are just like that - hail gravity !

light

 never did no lord ordain

it came out as a physical process

it has meanings wide and deep

a whole spectrum of frequencies

a play of electromagnetic fields

travel as waves but as particles they hit

quantized and moving at the ultimate speed

its interactions are studied in quantum electrodynamics.

here we keep it simple

and stick to the part visible

a little question some kids may care

why don't we see the spectrum entire ?

it would be crazy, i'd be scared

for there would just be so much everywhere

but the water where eyes evolved to stare

absorbs the rest ,allows only so much in there.

light be the universal way to communicate

because throughout the space it permeates

created and annihilated as energy changes modes

it may travel for years billions without getting bored

just a tiny bit of universal energy it stores

reflects, refracts, disperses, diffracts, interferes and distorts 

knocks and stretches out as it soars

goes in and out of everything including black holes, did you know ?

sound

what we hear as sound

is but vibrations in the air all around

the vibrations once ticked

travel as waves acoustic

which be longitudinal in fashion

the medium vibrates in the wave's direction

a medium is of prime essence

for no acoustics in medium's absence

and it be an important difference

between this and waves of luminescence.

imagine a long constrained spring
pull one end and watch the wave speeding
the wave be made of two sections

regions of compression and rarefaction
that put together occupy a wavelength
and two characteristics to convey its strength -
pitch be the effect of frequency
multiplied with wavelength gives the wave's speed
expressed in the honor of Hertz Heinrich
just a count of the cycles that in a second creep.

loudness be decided by the intensity

which is just a simple property

determined by the wave's amplitude

which is how much a particle moves

its level is expressed in decibels

which honors the old Graham Bell

and 'tis for just this reason, you see

that it is dB ( not db )

'coz units named after people 

are abbreviated with capital.

just like with all the waves
there's also a thing called phase
which is but a measure of

relative shift in the stage

only of use when more than one

they result in interference patterns

then there's this interesting part

cars change pitch when they pass

because relative motion impacts the frequency

Doppler shift maps the motion with great decency.

Simple Harmonic Motion

there is something ironic

about motion simple harmonic

a tool to study movements periodic

in the good old Newtonian mechanics

an idealization used with Fourier analysis

to model such complexities

as a pendulum or a bobblehead

and everything that oscillates

all of them movements be

hostage to a force restoring, you see

the force restoring is presumed

proportional to the displacement assumed

and as the name suggests

the force acts to restore the mess

now comes the irony

mentioned in the beginning

if idealized conditions persist

no drag from the air and small displacements that is

the restoring force just never succeeds

inertia conspires to maintain the speed

as the pendulums to the equilibrium reach

a simple harmonic motion forever lives

now, if we talk mathematically

just get to the force restoring fully

and massage the equation so that it is

acceleration and something with displacement in it

equate acceleration to that something, but negative

and you get your motion simple harmonic

if used this trick on a simple pendulum

an insight pops out immediately

that the period of any such system

doesn't quite depend on its energy

it does depend on the string's length

and of course the gravity

swing high swing low a ball of lead or a ball of snow

same time them all will show.

potential and kinetic energy

 of all the energies that there be

them all be just two kind -

potential and kinetic

as the words say to an average mind

potential be the capability

while kinetic, in motion you find.

all movement is energy

be it the electrons on the grind

responding to an electric field

or a magnet, if you wind

the moving electron sea

to a core well inclined

them electrons get the wire heating

buzzing faster with time

the most inaudible sound but be

moving particles in the medium's bind

and the light and others of the creed

just be the photons cruising in line 

nothing to say of other things moving

solid, liquid, gas or an idea sublime

them all be kinetic energy

ain't too hard on the mind

to talk of the potential energy 

a simple way it be defined

it's just an object's capability

to cause motion when thus destined -

could be from the right company

a privileged spot where enshrined

or some stress internal may be

charge etc as predefined

them nuclear particles that we see

weigh more individually than combined

potential energy is that exactly

a boom a bang when freed from the bind

them chemicals in them batteries

when over-charged may burst the confines

all the same with gravitational field

fallen oranges stain their rind

same for springs and elasticity

shouldn't forget to remind

learning such, a question creeps

how is the difference assigned ?

well, let me tell this simple trick

that us mortals have designed

we assign the potential negative

and everything gets well aligned.

friction

there's this one interesting thing

that truly helps us all get moving

we walk we run we jog and we jump

if not for friction we'd slip and slump

oh, how would ever the wheels roll

if not for this simple toll

for contacts between two surfaces

solid with solid, liquid or gases

caused by imperfections - the tiny projections

a surface's rejection of most deft attention

characterized by a co-efficient

i tell you it is proficient

exerting itself against the move

changing nature as behooves

static, sliding, rolling or fluid

adjusts itself as force ensues

though the max it can posit 

is a force opposite

the direction of motion 

with the simple expression

the coefficient's multiplication

with the surface's reaction

in the perpendicular direction

and never more than applied action

boy, what an interesting scheme

in motion the decay gleams

its me its me the friction screams

the boon the bane - co-existing extremes.