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Engineering Systems Integration
the basis for energy transfer if the blocks of wood move. The action of boardon-board due to friction is a property of the wood surfaces and a trait of the
circumstances surrounding the movements of those surfaces. The action of
movement is due to the mechanism enabled by the force of gravity. The result
of such a mechanism is observed in the ability to add wood to make and
grow a pile in height and breadth. However, if there was no friction between
the wood pieces and between the wood pieces and the surrounding terrain,
the wood pieces would just slide from their placement on another piece of
wood (also presumably sliding unabated) and continue their motion without
constraint according to the local topography. On level ground (again assuming no friction and no other impediments), no pile is possible. Without friction no energy is transferred from block to block or from block to the Earth’s
surface. Motion would continue unabated, undamped. One of the conditions
for integration is that the constituent parts must interact. No integration and
no system are possible without interaction. In this case, the piling of wood
requires interaction due to friction to build a pile. If a piece of wood retains its
original (prepile properties and attributes) and does not change as a result of
interaction with another object (e.g., a piece of wood), then the pile of wood
will remain just that—individual pieces of wood in a pile (every piece of
wood remaining exactly where it was placed). Regardless of the force of friction, only Type 2 objects are included in the pile of blocks of wood. No integration is possible by the process of “piling the wood” (Figure 2.7).
Contrast the rather random acts of piling wood versus stacking lumber.
Stacked lumber (assuming that it was carefully placed so the stack had lateral
and longitudinal stability) would not move due to the Earth’s gravity. The
stability of the stack is in fact ensured in part due to Earth’s gravity. As there
is no relative motion between the stacked lumber, there is no transfer of
FIgure 2.7
Wood pile. (Courtesy of Timothy L.J. Ferris, photo taken in Pebble Beach, California.)
Engineering Systems Integration
the basis for energy transfer if the blocks of wood move. The action of boardon-board due to friction is a property of the wood surfaces and a trait of the
circumstances surrounding the movements of those surfaces. The action of
movement is due to the mechanism enabled by the force of gravity. The result
of such a mechanism is observed in the ability to add wood to make and
grow a pile in height and breadth. However, if there was no friction between
the wood pieces and between the wood pieces and the surrounding terrain,
the wood pieces would just slide from their placement on another piece of
wood (also presumably sliding unabated) and continue their motion without
constraint according to the local topography. On level ground (again assuming no friction and no other impediments), no pile is possible. Without friction no energy is transferred from block to block or from block to the Earth’s
surface. Motion would continue unabated, undamped. One of the conditions
for integration is that the constituent parts must interact. No integration and
no system are possible without interaction. In this case, the piling of wood
requires interaction due to friction to build a pile. If a piece of wood retains its
original (prepile properties and attributes) and does not change as a result of
interaction with another object (e.g., a piece of wood), then the pile of wood
will remain just that—individual pieces of wood in a pile (every piece of
wood remaining exactly where it was placed). Regardless of the force of friction, only Type 2 objects are included in the pile of blocks of wood. No integration is possible by the process of “piling the wood” (Figure 2.7).
Contrast the rather random acts of piling wood versus stacking lumber.
Stacked lumber (assuming that it was carefully placed so the stack had lateral
and longitudinal stability) would not move due to the Earth’s gravity. The
stability of the stack is in fact ensured in part due to Earth’s gravity. As there
is no relative motion between the stacked lumber, there is no transfer of
FIgure 2.7
Wood pile. (Courtesy of Timothy L.J. Ferris, photo taken in Pebble Beach, California.)