Theory in practice

Newton on the pitch (November 2) it reminds me of an incident in college. It showed how mathematical theories might produce ridiculous results in our day-to-day life. When I had just joined college the seniors asked us to jump from the sitting-bench to the floor. We were asked to measure the time (with the help of a stopwatch) which came out to be 0.75 second on an average. Then, using Newton's laws of gravitation, we measured the height of the bench. It came out to be 2.76 m. On an average our height was 1.68 m which was well below the calculated height of the bench. So the raggers asked us to stand in an erect posture under the bench. A silly kind of freshers' welcome, but it gave us a very good impression about what can happen if we try to bind actual situations with the objectivity of scientific laws without contemplating the other parameters which are human in nature.

Shouvik Chattopadhyay
Sodepur

Clean power source

With reference to Wind power isn't safe (November 15), it's too early to rule out a clean source of energy like wind power. Well, too many wind turbines concentrated in any particular area may disrupt wind turbines, but it doesn't apply to most countries like India that's just begun to harness the renewable source of energy.

Anurag Sinha
Jamshedpur

Excess vitamin E

T he article Excess vitamin E is bad (November 22) should serve as an eye-opener to those pill-poppers who consume a lot of the vitamin, presuming it's immensely beneficial. It also warns consumers from buying a whole lot of skin products like shampoos and moisturisers which claim to have vitamin E as an active ingredient.

Susobhan Ghatak
Baranagar