Category: Physics

Posted on

A super position by John Hawkhead

quantum superpositioning myself in her g-B-o-A-o-D-d books

by John Hawkhead

Quantum superposition is the principle that a quantum system can exist in many states simultaneously until it is measured or observed directly. Measurement forces the system to ‘collapse’ to a single, definite state. The concept is demonstrated by the ‘double’-slit experiment which shows that light and matter can act as waves and particles at the same time.

Perhaps the most famous thought experiment associated with this phenomenon is Schrödinger’s Cat which illustrates superposition. In quantum superposition theory a cat, locked in a box with poison in a flask and a radioactive source that may or may not release the poison, is both alive and dead at the same time until the box is opened and reveals the definite state of the cat. The poem is a light hearted response to the theory.

Further reading:

‘Quantum superposition’, Wikipedia article, available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_superposition

Author bio:

John Hawkhead (@haikuhawk.bsky.social) is a writer and artist from the south-west of England. His work has been published globally over the last 25 years, including three books of haiku / senryu: ‘Small Shadows’ and ‘Bone Moon’ (available from Alba Publishing. http://www.albapublishing.com/) and ‘Four Horse Parable’ (available from Nun Prophet Press).

Read more of John’s sciku here!

Posted on

Many endings by John Hawkhead

quantum worlds
every possibility
has an ending

by John Hawkhead

The Quantum World Theory (or Many Worlds Interpretation) of quantum mechanics posits that every quantum event with multiple possible outcomes causes reality to branch into separate, parallel universes, where each distinct outcome occurs. The theory suggests that all possible outcomes are physically real but exist in distinct, non-interacting, worlds. The single uniting expectation is that all parallel universes and worlds will have an ending. This parallels all human existences coming to an end no matter how long science can extend a lifetime.

Further reading:

‘Many-worlds interpretation’, Wikipedia article, available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Many-worlds_interpretation

‘The Many-Worlds Theory, Explained’, 2020, Gribbin, J., The MIT Press Reader, available: https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/the-many-worlds-theory/

Author bio:

John Hawkhead (@haikuhawk.bsky.social) is a writer and artist from the south-west of England. His work has been published globally over the last 25 years, including three books of haiku / senryu: ‘Small Shadows’ and ‘Bone Moon’ (available from Alba Publishing. http://www.albapublishing.com/) and ‘Four Horse Parable’ (available from Nun Prophet Press).

Read more of John’s sciku here!

Posted on

ToE… by Tony Williams

rockpool physics…
I dip my ToE
in the unfathomable water

by Tony Williams

A Theory of Everything (ToE) is a hypothetical framework in physics that aims to unify all fundamental forces (electromagnetism, weak and strong nuclear forces, and gravity) and all fundamental particles into a single, comprehensive theoretical model. It seeks to reconcile the principles of quantum mechanics, which governs the subatomic world, with general relativity, which describes gravity and the cosmos on a large scale.

While a complete ToE remains one of physics’ greatest unsolved challenges, proposed candidates include string theory and loop quantum gravity, though these are incomplete and not considered true Theories of Everything in their current forms. The biggest hurdle for a ToE is the inherent incompatibility between quantum mechanics and general relativity.

Physicists believe a complete understanding of the universe requires a single theory to explain its vast diversity, but whether a complete ToE is achievable or even necessary is a subject of debate among physicists.

Further reading:

‘Theory of Everything’, Wikipedia article, available: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_everything

Author bio:

Tony Williams from Scotland, UK, started writing haiku and senryu in 2020. Since then he has been published widely in many fine journals and picked up several awards. Tony takes inspiration from spending time in nature. He is not unhappily retired.

Read another sciku by Tony here: ‘Spooky Action’.

Posted on

Eternally grateful by John Hawkhead

möbius strip
sending a thank-you card
for a thank-you card

by John Hawkhead

A möbius strip is a surface with only one side and one edge. It is created by folding a strip of paper by one half-twist and then joining the two ends. This seems counterintuitive but a line drawn on paper will eventually meet itself if continued along the entire length of the joined strip – thus demonstrating it only has one side and one edge.

The möbius strip symbolises infinity and so this sciku uses a never-ending exchange of ‘thank-you’ cards between overly polite persons to link with the concept.

Further reading:

‘Möbius strip’, Wikipedia article, available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%B6bius_strip

Author bio:

John Hawkhead (@haikuhawk.bsky.social) is a writer and artist from the south-west of England. His work has been published globally over the last 25 years, including three books of haiku / senryu: ‘Small Shadows’ and ‘Bone Moon’ (available from Alba Publishing. http://www.albapublishing.com/) and ‘Four Horse Parable’ (available from Nun Prophet Press).

Read more of John’s sciku here!

Posted on

HAI-COUNT by James Ph. Kotsybar

Our Standard Model
houses seventeen beasts in
its particle zoo.

Seventeen quantum
particles like syllables,
defining thought’s fields.

In this way, haiku
mirrors Nature’s elements
at her most basic.

by James Ph. Kotsybar

Can it be merely coincidental that the number of sub-atomic particles is equal to the number of syllables in a haiku? Of course, but it’s still a fun speculation to entertain.

Further reading:

‘Physicists just discovered two new subatomic particles. Here’s why that matters’, 2014, Stromberg, J., Vox, available: https://www.vox.com/2014/11/26/7280417/higgs-boson-LHC

‘Subatomic particles’, Wikipedia, available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subatomic_particle

Author bio:

James Ph. Kotsybar is the first, living poet whose work has reached another planet, chosen for the honor by the NASA MAVEN team. Invited to read at the EuroScience Open Forum – Europe’s largest interdisciplinary science event – in Toulouse, France, attended by the Troubadours (Europe’s oldest literary institution), who gave him a standing, return invitation for his science poetry presentation. Find out more about him and his book ‘Bard of Mars’ here.

Posted on

Ye Cannae Change The Laws Of Physics by Mark Gilbert

four-limbed starfish
swimming against the tide
entropy machine

by Mark Gilbert

Nobel Prize-winning Theoretical Physicist Ernest Schrödinger (1887-1961), now famous for his cat (thought experiment), wrote a book called What Is Life? which tried to put biology into the context of Physics. Published in 1944, it predicted how genetic material would be stored in living things and stimulated the elucidation of DNA’s role nine years later.

The book also addressed the paradox that life, known to be exceedingly complex and ordered, seems to contradict the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which states that the amount of disorder in an isolated system, its entropy, cannot decrease but tends to increase over time. One way around this paradox is to argue how ‘system’ is defined. But whatever their environment, all life forms appear to create order while increasing the disorder around them, for example by generating heat or other forms of waste. If they create more disorder than order then the Second Law would not be infringed, as Schrödinger hypothesised.

In traditional Physics, only simple systems in equilibrium were considered; however, life forms may be regarded as non-equilibrium systems. Some scientists have attempted to incorporate information theory into such ideas, complicating the concepts further, but I am sceptical of these anthropocentric approaches. As entropy cannot be directly observed or measured but must be estimated, there is room for discussion and further research, mostly theoretical, to keep scientists happy.

Further reading:

‘What is Life?’, Wikipedia article, available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Is_Life%3F 

‘Entropy’, Wikipedia article, available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy 

‘Entropy in Thermodynamics and Information Theory’, Wikipedia article, available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy_in_thermodynamics_and_information_theory

Author bio:

Originally a chemist, Mark Gilbert is based in the UK and enjoys writing short poetry and prose, which regularly appears in on-line and print journals and anthologies. With Eavonka Ettinger, he co-wrote Variations on the Planets, an astronomical poetry chapbook (Nun Prophet Press/Amazon). He is on Twitter at @MarkgZero.

Read another sciku by Mark here: ‘One-Word Haiku’.

Posted on

Ions by Patricia Hawkhead

rare blooms
a body blessed
with imperfect-ions

by Patricia Hawkhead

ion: a charged subatomic particle, such as a free electron, or an atom that carries a positive or negative electric charge having lost or gained one or more electrons.
 

Further reading:
‘The Effect of Negative Ions’, 2019, Jewell, T., HealthLine, available: https://www.healthline.com/health/negative-ions

Author bio:

Patricia Hawkhead’s haikai and poetry have been published in publications including: Asahi Haikuist Network, Blōō Outlier, Bones , Cattails, Cold Moon Journal, dadakuku, Echidna Tracks, Failed Haiku, Five Fleas (itchy poetry), haikuNetra, Poetry Pea, Presence, Prune Juice, Scarlett Dragonfly, Shadow Pond Journal, tsuri-dōrō and Haiku Universe. You can follow her on X/Twitter at @patricahawkhead

Read another sciku by Patricia here: ‘Pathogenders’.

Posted on

Class by Jerome Berglund

led
into gold . . conflict
of interest

by Jerome Berglund

It’s fascinating how black swan events and emerging innovations can effect scarcity and perceived value, one thinks of lab grown diamonds disrupting industry and also removing needs for exploitative mining practices. Here’s hoping they continue by making food readily accessible, water drinkable, air safe to breathe!

This poem is also about how divisive inequality is created intentionally, and removal of caste boundaries built on arbitrary material constructs is not desired by the opulent few in the upstairs most comfortable waited on hand and foot. But now thankfully… Robots, ai! Perhaps they can even eliminate brothels and patriarchy, servitude with Siri and company. Until Skynet gets a bee in its bonnet at least! ?

As per ABC News: ‘Scientists at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider have successfully transformed lead into gold atoms, achieving an ancient alchemist dream through modern physics.

The Large Hadron Collider is a giant particle accelerator that smashes atoms together at super-high speeds. Scientists there have found a way to knock three tiny particles called protons out of lead atoms, turning them into gold atoms.

Instead of crashing lead atoms head-on, the team behind this discovery looked at what happens when the atoms just barely miss each other.’

Further reading:

‘Scientists turn lead into gold for 1st time, but only for a split second’, 2025, Louallen, D., ABC News, available: https://abcnews.visitlink.me/tfEWuW

‘How CERN turned lead into gold (very briefly) in the Large Hadron Collider’, 2025, Petras, G. & Beard, S.J., USA Today, available: https://www.usatoday.com/story/graphics/2025/05/16/how-cern-collider-turned-lead-into-gold/83651264007/

Author bio:

Jerome Berglund, recently nominated for the Touchstone awards, graduated from USC’s film program, worked in the entertainment industry before returning to the midwest where he has been employed as everything from dishwasher to paralegal, night watchman to assembler of heart valves. Recently relocated to Louisiana, Jerome has exhibited many haiku, senryu and haiga online and in print, most recently in the Asahi Shimbun, bottle rockets, Cold Moon Journal, Failed Haiku, Frogpond, Mainichi, Presence, and Seashores. You can follow him on Twitter @BerglundJerome and find more of his poetry here: https://flowersunmedia.wixsite.com/jbphotography/post/haiku-senryu-and-haiga-publications

Check out more sciku from Jerome here.

Posted on

Spooky Action… by Tony Williams

splitting a hosta…
a question
of quantum entanglement.

by Tony Williams

In simple terms: Quantum entanglement is a special connection between particles that makes them act like they are one unit, even when they are far apart. Measuring one particle instantly reveals the state of the other, but there’s no actual information transfer happening between them. They are linked in such a way that they share the same fate, no matter how far apart they are.

Further reading:

‘What is Entanglement and Why is it Important?’, Caltech Science Exchange, available: https://scienceexchange.caltech.edu/topics/quantum-science-explained/entanglement

‘Quantum entanglement: A simple way to fully grasp this ‘impossible’ concept’, 2025, Ralls, E., Earth.com, available: https://www.earth.com/news/quantum-entanglement-a-simple-way-to-grasp-this-impossible-concept-carl-kocher/

Author bio:

Tony Williams – Scotland, UK, started writing haiku and senryu in 2020. Since then he has been published widely in many fine journals and picked up some awards. Tony takes inspiration from spending time in nature. He is not unhappily retired.

Read another sciku by Tony here: ‘ToE…’.

Posted on

Future is in Superposition by Scott Edgar

Your future is in
Superposition so breathe
Be present today

by Scott Edgar

Rooted in the idea of quantum superposition, this haiku reminds us that the future is not fixed, only possible. Obsessing over what might happen pulls us out of the only place we have any power — the present. In trying to control tomorrow, we lose today.

Superposition in quantum mechanics means that, until something is observed or measured, it doesn’t have one definite state — instead, it exists in all possible states at once. But once it’s observed, it’s forced to “choose” one state, and that’s the one we see.

Here’s a simplified breakdown:

  • Imagine a particle (like an electron) can be in State A or State B.
  • In superposition, before you look at it, the particle isn’t in A or B — it’s in both A and B at the same time.
  • The moment you measure or observe it, the superposition “collapses,” and it becomes either A or B — but never both anymore.

This is the heart of the famous thought experiment Schrödinger’s cat:

  • The cat in the box is both dead and alive (a superposition) until someone opens the box.
  • Opening the box (observing) collapses the superposition into one outcome.

Further reading:

‘What Is Superposition and Why Is It Important?’, Caltech Science Exchange, available: https://scienceexchange.caltech.edu/topics/quantum-science-explained/quantum-superposition

Author bio:

Scott Edgar is a father of five amazing, adventurous children, he is an attorney and a poet. He has published two collections of poetry (available here) and is the host of the podcast, The Poet (delayed), which is available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts here: https://blessed-pine-5317.fireside.fm You can follow Scott on Instagram @poetdelayed.

Read more of Scott’s sciku here.

Posted on

Muse of Meow, Meow… by Pravat Kumar Padhy

fog outside
Schrödinger’s cat
I wish it alive

by Pravat Kumar Padhy

Erwin Schrödinger (1887-1961) was an Austrian-Irish Physicist. His landmark research on wave function led to the theory of ‘quantum entanglement’, which he coined in 1935.

He imagined an experiment in which a hypothetical cat was placed inside a sealed box with a flask of poison and a radioactive source. The thought experiment defined that the cat remained in a quantum superposition state of being dead and alive until one opened the box and observed it. This led to the much-debated quantum physics of modern times.

Further reading:

‘Schrödinger’s cat’, Wikipedia article, available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schr%C3%B6dinger%27s_cat

‘Erwin Schrödinger’, Wikipedia article, available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erwin_Schr%C3%B6dinger

Author bio:

Pravat Kumar Padhy, based in Bhubaneswar, India, holds a Master of Science and a Ph.D from Indian Institute of Technology, ISM Dhanbad. He is a mainstream poet and a writer of Japanese short forms of poetry. His essay “Haiku: The Poetry of Science and Soul” will be featured this year in the UK-based journal, Presence. He served as a panel judge of ‘The Haiku Foundation’s Touchstone Awards for Individual Poems.’

Posted on

Uncertainty by John Hawkhead

switching off life support
we cannot know where
an electron is

by John Hawkhead

Due to Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, we cannot know the exact location of an electron at any given time. The principle states that it is impossible to precisely measure the position and momentum of a particle like an electron simultaneously. We can only describe the orbitals or energy levels where an electron is most likely to be found in an atom.

Switching off life support is a difficult decision that allows a patient to die peacefully when curative treatments are no longer effective. It’s a key part of end-of-life care.

Many people believe in an afterlife or a continuation of existence for the mind or soul. There is no proof for such beliefs, but if it were true, we cannot know where or how that continuation might occur.

Sciku previously published in cattails journal April 2022. Editor’s comment from the journal: John Hawkhead takes us on an extraordinary journey. It’s starting point is a bleak one. There is no guidance to the reader about the circumstances of the patient, but we understand there is nothing more that can be done. Following this information comes a phrase which fully captured my imagination. It appears to reference the uncertainty principle, which is fascinating in itself. However, the juxtaposition of this ‘phrase’ with the initial ‘fragment’ set up multiple chains of thought in my mind. There is the ‘death’ of the machine as it is switched off and there is the death of the patient. The cessation of electrical activity within their brain, which we believe is responsible for consciousness. These ideas lead me back to the wording within the ‘phrase’. I picture an adult explaining ideas of death to a child, and the child trying to navigate its way through unfamiliar terrain, perhaps even touching on the nature of a soul and its continuation after death.

Further reading:

‘Where are electrons located within an atom?’, CK-12 Foundation, available: https://www.ck12.org/flexi/physical-science/atomic-nucleus/where-are-electrons-located-within-an-atom/

‘The uncertain location of electrons’, 2013, Zaidan, G. & Morton, C., TED-Ed, YouTube, available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ROHpZ0A70I

Author bio:

John Hawkhead (@haikuhawk.bsky.social) is a writer and artist from the south-west of England. His work has been published globally over the last 25 years, including three books of haiku / senryu: ‘Small Shadows’ and ‘Bone Moon’ (available from Alba Publishing. http://www.albapublishing.com/) and ‘Four Horse Parable’ (available from Nun Prophet Press).

Read more of John’s sciku here!

Posted on

Gravity of Thought by Neena Singh

quantum physics
trying to wrap my head
around dark matter

by Neena Singh

What is Dark Matter?

Unsolved problem in physics: Dark matter is a form of matter that doesn’t emit, absorb, or reflect light, making it invisible. Its presence is inferred through its gravitational effects on visible matter, such as galaxies and stars.

Proportion: It accounts for approximately 27% of the universe’s mass-energy content, compared to just 5% for normal (baryonic) matter.

Further reading:

‘Dark matter’, Wikipedia article, available: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_matter

Author bio:

Neena Singh is a banker turned poet. Her haikai poetry is regularly published in journals and magazines. She has published three books of poetry—”Whispers of the Soul: the journey within”, “One Breath Poetry” and the upcoming “A Peacock’s Cry – seasons of haiku”. She runs a non-profit for quality interventions in the education and health of underprivileged children in Chandigarh, India.

This poem was originally published in Haiku Dialogue, 29th January 2025.

Posted on

Particles/Waves by John Hawkhead

particles or waves?
moving from a dream state
to awakening…

by John Hawkhead

Fundamental particles such as photons and electrons display the characteristics of particles AND waves depending on the experiments we use to measure them. Particles have momentum and position so we can identify the effect when they interact with other particles. On the other hand, a wave can pass over, around or through physical objects. They are oscillations that transfer energy from one location to another.

So matter can be considered to be waves and particles depending on the method of measurement (see The Copenhagen Interpretation of Bohr and Heisenberg). Other theories have competed for our understanding of how subatomic matter behaves, such as the Many Worlds interpretation, but the duality of the Copenhagen Interpretation is still a strong contender for explaining how the subatomic world works.

Dreams can seem very real, sometimes involving all of our senses. They often involve people we know, sometimes in bizarre events that nevertheless can leave us strongly impacted upon awakening from sleep. Some dreams can be very closely related to current events in one’s life and so seem to take on a significance that we may try to rationalise in relation to our waking lives.

Two great thinkers on this subject, Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, both considered dreams as important in understanding the human psyche, whether as repressed desires or as messages from the unconscious that inform our waking lives. So are dreams real? Are they as much a part of our existence as the waking world? Is there a duality of existence in waking and dreaming? Perhaps we go somewhere else when we dream that is just as real as in the conscious world.

Further reading:

‘Elementary particle’, Wikipedia article, available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elementary_particle

‘Copenhagen interpretation’, Wikipedia article, available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copenhagen_interpretation

‘Many-worlds interpretation’, Wikipedia article, available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Many-worlds_interpretation

‘Sigmund Freud’, Wikipedia article, available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud

‘Carl Jung’, Wikipedia article, available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Jung

Author bio:

John Hawkhead (@haikuhawk.bsky.social) has been writing haiku and illustrating for over 25 years. His work has been published all over the world and he has won a number of haiku competitions. John’s books of haiku and senryu, ‘Small Shadows’ and ‘Bone Moon’, are now available from Alba Publishing (http://www.albapublishing.com/).

Read more of John’s sciku here!

Posted on

Neutrinos by John Hawkhead

neutrino mass for the fleetingly here

by John Hawkhead

Neutrinos are fundamental particles and are members of the same group as the electron (leptons). Neutrinos have very little mass, no charge, and travel through the Earth in milliseconds.

Some Christian religions hold a ‘mass’ for the deceased to celebrate a life. So, this monoku poem links the short time on Earth for neutrinos with our fleeting time on Earth.

Further reading:

‘Neutrino’, Wikipedia article, available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutrino

Author bio:

John Hawkhead (@haikuhawk.bsky.social) has been writing haiku and illustrating for over 25 years. His work has been published all over the world and he has won a number of haiku competitions. John’s books of haiku and senryu, ‘Small Shadows’ and ‘Bone Moon’, are now available from Alba Publishing (http://www.albapublishing.com/).

Read more of John’s sciku here!

Posted on

Attraction by Jonathan Aylett

if an object’s mass
determines its gravity
explain butterflies

by Jonathan Aylett

An object’s mass is directly proportional to the gravitational force it generates, but in this haiku I am turning this on its head and asking why am I so drawn to something as light as a butterfly? The answer is obvious really (they are beautiful).

Further reading:

‘Mass, weight and gravitational field strength’, BBC Bitesize article, available: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zsqscj6/revision/1

‘Newton’s law of universal gravitation’, Wikipedia article, available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton%27s_law_of_universal_gravitation

Author bio:

Jonathan has been writing and publishing poetry for several years. His work has featured in journals dedicated to haiku, and broader literary journals, and won competitions across both disciplines. His collection ‘Goldfish’ – a mix of haiku and long form poetry, will be published by Stairwell books in spring 2024. You can follow Jonathan on Instagram here: @jonathanaylettpoetry 

Read other sciku by Jonathan here: ‘Light’, ‘String Theory’, ‘Moss’, and ‘Dusty Shoulders’.

Posted on

Quantum Worlds by John Hawkhead

quantum worlds
my shadow as real
as I am

by John Hawkhead

One of the experimental tests used to determine the nature of fundamental quanta such as photons is the ‘double-slit aperture test’.

A stream of photons is projected towards a barrier with two slits. The result is an interference pattern on a screen beyond the slits that demonstrates the wave-particle duality of the photon.

One explanation for this duality applies the multiverse concept and theorises that particles from parallel universes interact with the photons being projected towards the slits. In this multiverse concept, the shadow areas in the aperture pattern ‘hide’ alternative universes. The theory is that ‘shadow photons’ are affecting the the photons in the double-slit experiment.

Similarly, the terms shadows and shades are often used to describe the dead when seen crossing back into this world from the ‘other side’ as ghosts or spirits. Is it possible that our shadows are experienced in alternative universes..?

Further reading:

‘Double-slit experiment’, Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-slit_experiment

‘Many worlds interpretation’, Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Many-worlds_interpretation

Author bio:

John Hawkhead (@HawkheadJohn) has been writing haiku and illustrating for over 25 years. His work has been published all over the world and he has won a number of haiku competitions. John’s books of haiku and senryu, ‘Small Shadows’ and ‘Bone Moon’, are now available from Alba Publishing (http://www.albapublishing.com/).

Enjoyed John’s sciku? Check out more of his sciku here: ‘Dark matter’, ‘Chirality’, ‘Spooky Interaction’, ‘Dancing’, ‘Planetarium’, ‘Empty Space’, ‘Averages’, ‘New Beginning’, ‘Interactions’, ‘Surface Tension’ and ‘Shell Game‘.

Posted on

Love: Expressed in the General Theory of Relativity by Scott Edgar

Our spacetime is warped
And your celestial body
Sets me in orbit

by Scott Edgar

The scientific basis of my sciku is the General Theory of Relativity. It’s been my experience that falling in love is governed by the same laws: e.g. A distortion of spacetime that draws me to the one I love.

Further reading:

‘General relativity’, Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_relativity

Author bio:

I am a lawyer by trade and poet by passion with a conceptual interest in physics and astronomy. I try to get lost in the deserts of the southwestern United States as often as I can. You can follow Scott on Instagram @poetdelayed.

Read more of Scott’s sciku here.

Posted on

Shell Game by John Hawkhead

waterfall rainbows
gnats scribble probabilities
in atomic shells

by John Hawkhead

In atomic physics and chemistry, electron shells (and subshells) are thought of as a series of ascending orbits that electrons occupy around an atom’s nucleus. Shells correspond to principal quantum numbers or are labelled alphabetically with the letters used in X-ray notation. Each row on the periodic table of elements represents an electron shell.

Each shell can contain only a fixed number of electrons. The numbers of electrons that can occupy each shell and subshell arise from equations in quantum mechanics, which state that no two electrons in the same atom can have the same values of the four quantum numbers that describe an electron in an atom completely:

  • Principal quantum number (n)
  • Azimuthal quantum number (ℓ)
  • Magnetic quantum number (mℓ)
  • Spin Quantum number (ms)

Further reading:

‘Electron shells’, Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron_shell

‘Quantum number’, Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_number

Author bio:

John Hawkhead (@HawkheadJohn) has been writing haiku and illustrating for over 25 years. His work has been published all over the world and he has won a number of haiku competitions. John’s books of haiku and senryu, ‘Small Shadows’ and ‘Bone Moon’, are now available from Alba Publishing (http://www.albapublishing.com/). Read more of John’s sciku here!

Posted on

Surface Tension by John Hawkhead

surface tension
she dips a toe
into my silence

by John Hawkhead

Surface tension is the tendency of at-rest liquid surfaces to shrink into the minimum surface area possible. This allows objects with higher density than water to float on its surface without becoming submerged.

Surface tension results from the greater attraction of liquid molecules to each other (cohesion) than to air molecules (adhesion).

Further reading:

‘Surface tension’, Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface_tension

Author bio:

John Hawkhead (@HawkheadJohn) has been writing haiku and illustrating for over 25 years. His work has been published all over the world and he has won a number of haiku competitions. John’s books of haiku and senryu, ‘Small Shadows’ and ‘Bone Moon’, are now available from Alba Publishing (http://www.albapublishing.com/). Read more of John’s sciku here!

This sciku was previous published in Human/Kind: A Journal of Topical and Contemporary Japanese Short-forms and Art, issue 1:1, p14.

Posted on

String Theory by Jonathan Aylett

string theory lesson
she plucks threads on her sweater
and I unravel

by Jonathan Aylett

This is a love haiku, a narrative poem in which the subject can’t concentrate on school because of their unrequited love for a classmate. It also alludes to string theory and the universal interconnectedness the theory points to.

Further reading:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_theory

Author bio:

Jonathan has been writing and publishing poetry for several years. His work has featured in journals dedicated to haiku, and broader literary journals, and won competitions across both disciplines. His collection ‘Goldfish’ – a mix of haiku and long form poetry, will be published by Stairwell books in spring 2024. You can follow Jonathan on Instagram here: @jonathanaylettpoetry 

Read other sciku by Jonathan here: ‘Light’, ‘Moss’, ‘Dusty Shoulders’, and ‘Attraction’.

Posted on

Light by Jonathan Aylett

coming through in waves
or particles, I can’t tell
October sunlight

by Jonathan Aylett

A classically structured haiku using the kigo “October sunlight”, which refers to the well known double slit experiment of quantum physics.

Further reading:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-slit_experiment

Author bio:

Jonathan has been writing and publishing poetry for several years. His work has featured in journals dedicated to haiku, and broader literary journals, and won competitions across both disciplines. His collection ‘Goldfish’ – a mix of haiku and long form poetry, will be published by Stairwell books in spring 2024. You can follow Jonathan on Instagram here: @jonathanaylettpoetry 

Read other sciku by Jonathan here: ‘String Theory’, ‘Moss’, ‘Dusty Shoulders’, and ‘Attraction’.

Posted on

Interactions by John Hawkhead

bosons and mesons
all the stuff we talk about
just interactions

by John Hawkhead

In particle physics, bosons are subatomic particles whose spin quantum number has an integer value and which obey Bose-Einstein statistics. Examples of bosons include the Higgs boson particle and photons (light).

Mesons are a form of boson: they’re hadronic subatomic particles composed of an equal number of quarks and antiquarks bound together by a strong interaction. Mesons are the interaction agents between protons and electrons, but are unstable outside of the nucleus, decaying to particles such as electrons, neutrinos and photons. Despite their small size (0.6 times the size of a proton or neutron) and instability, they’re observable by particle detectors and have been used to study the properties and interactions of quarks.

Further reading:

‘Boson’, Wikipedia article – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boson

‘Bosons and Fermions’, Office of Science, US Department of Energy – https://www.energy.gov/science/doe-explainsbosons-and-fermions

‘Meson’, Vedantu article – https://www.vedantu.com/physics/meson

‘Meson’, Wikipedia article – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meson

‘Meson’, Encyclopaedia Britannica article – https://www.britannica.com/science/meson

Author bio:

John Hawkhead (@HawkheadJohn) has been writing haiku and illustrating for over 25 years. His work has been published all over the world and he has won a number of haiku competitions. John’s books of haiku and senryu, ‘Small Shadows’ and ‘Bone Moon’, are now available from Alba Publishing (http://www.albapublishing.com/). Read more of John’s sciku here!

Posted on

Empty Space by John Hawkhead

bar talk
his atoms and mine
mostly empty space

by John Hawkhead

Atoms are 99% empty space, comprised of electrons in orbits around a nucleus made up of protons and neutrons. It follows then that approximately 99% of the human body is empty space with the remaining 1% (the electrons, neutrons and protons) being particles that have existed for billions of years.

At least this is the common mental image of an atom – the planetary model, originally proposed by Ernest Rutherford in 1911 and further refined by Niels Bohr in 1913. And yet…

Researchers increasingly understand that whilst electrons occupy discrete energy levels, they don’t always behave like discrete particles. Electrons are quantum objects – an electron is partly a wave and partly a particle. Under normal conditions an individual electron isn’t traveling in an orbital path through nothingness around its nuclei, but is instead spread out in an electron cloud.

As astrophysicist Dr Ethan Siegel says, “Inside your body, you aren’t mostly empty space. You’re mostly a series of electron clouds, all bound together by the quantum rules that govern the entire Universe.”

Further reading:

‘Due to the Space inside Atoms, You Are Mostly Made up of Empty Space’, Trevor English, Interesting Engineering: https://interestingengineering.com/science/due-to-the-space-inside-atoms-you-are-mostly-made-up-of-empty-space

‘Rutherford model’, Encyclopedia Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/science/Rutherford-model

‘You Are Not Mostly Empty Space’, Ethan Siegel, Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2020/04/16/you-are-not-mostly-empty-space/

Author bio:

John Hawkhead (@HawkheadJohn) has been writing haiku and illustrating for over 25 years. His work has been published all over the world and he has won a number of haiku competitions. John’s books of haiku and senryu, ‘Small Shadows’ and ‘Bone Moon’, are now available from Alba Publishing (http://www.albapublishing.com/). Read more of John’s sciku here!

This sciku was previously published in MahMight haiku journal 2021.

Posted on

Dancing by John Hawkhead

photons
E=mc2
dancing

By John Hawkhead

Photons are some of the most fascinating particles in the physical sciences; fundamental particles of light that are the smallest possible packets of electromagnetic energy.

Albert Einstein’s mass–energy equivalence (represented by the formula E = mc2) gives the basic relation between mass and energy, stating that under appropriate situations mass and energy are interchangeable and the same. Yet photons have a rest mass of zero – they are massless particles – therefore should they even have any energy at all? And if they have neither mass nor energy then would they even physically exist?

E = mc2 is actually a special case of the more general equation E2 = p2c2 + m2c4, where E is energy, p is momentum, c is the speed of light and m is mass at rest. Since photons have no mass, this equation becomes E = pc.  Effectively, photons get their energy from their momentum and can never be at rest, constantly moving.

How they move has been the subject of study for decades, with recent research suggesting that photons can behave as both particles and waves (to find out more, check out the sciku ‘Spooky Interaction’, also by John Hawkhead).

This sciku plays around with the concepts of photons, square dancing and the randomness of measuring the path of photons.

Further reading:

‘Light has no mass so it also has no energy according to Einstein, but how can sunlight warm the earth without energy?’, Science Questions with Surprising Answers: https://www.wtamu.edu/~cbaird/sq/2014/04/01/light-has-no-mass-so-it-also-has-no-energy-according-to-einstein-but-how-can-sunlight-warm-the-earth-without-energy/

‘Mass–energy equivalence’, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass%E2%80%93energy_equivalence

‘Does light have mass?’, Physics FAQ: https://www.desy.de/user/projects/Physics/Relativity/SR/light_mass.html

Author bio:

John Hawkhead (@HawkheadJohn) has been writing haiku and illustrating for over 25 years. His work has been published all over the world and he has won a number of haiku competitions. John’s books of haiku and senryu, ‘Small Shadows’ and ‘Bone Moon’, are now available from Alba Publishing (http://www.albapublishing.com/). Read more of John’s sciku here!

‘Dancing’ was previously published in Failed Haiku 74 (1 Feb 2022).

Posted on

One-Word Haiku by Mark Gilbert

monopole

By Mark Gilbert

Similarly to the way that electrical charge is either positive or negative, magnetism generates both ‘north’ and ‘south’ poles. However, although single electrical charges are common (for example, a sodium ion, or an electron) a single magnetic pole has never been experimentally detected. Such an entity, a magnetic monopole, was first proposed by Pierre Curie in 1894, and its existence is predicted by various theoretical models of the universe. The search for such a monopole continues.

Like the elusive elementary particle, this minimalist haiku requires no content other than the monopole itself. It is up to the reader whether to supply the second, opposite, pole, through their own imagination, and therefore to balance the poem, or to decide that the single monopole cannot exist, leaving the haiku as a purely theoretical or imaginary quirk. I hope this may give an insight into the kind of conflicts suffered by theoretical physicists.

Further reading/watching:
‘Magnetic Monopole’, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_monopole

‘Why Are There No Magnetic Monopoles? Inflation and The Monopole Problem’, Chris Pattison, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_Og9LI4PPM

Author bio:
Originally a chemist, Mark Gilbert is based in the UK and enjoys writing short poetry and prose. He has recently been published in Heterodox Haiku Journal, Five Fleas, Under the Basho and Horror Senryu Journal. You can connect with him on Twitter at @MarkgZero.

Read another sciku by Mark here: ‘Ye Cannae Change The Laws Of Physics’.

Posted on

Spooky Interaction by John Hawkhead

explaining photons
my side of the argument
neither here nor there

By John Hawkhead

Scientists argued for years about whether photons were particles or waves, but it seems that photons can behave as both. They are now known as ‘gauge bosons’ of force-carrying particles that enable interactions between matter particles and fundamental forces, and exhibit a third property known in quantum physics as ‘excitation’.

Dark matter theory suggests the possible existence of ‘dark photons’ as mediators of interaction between dark matter particles. Some experiments have indicated that interacting photons remain connected even as they move away from each other at the speed of light; therefore, appearing to interact faster than the speed of light. Einstein’s term for this was “spooky interaction at a distance”. As with other fundamental particles, it is not possible to know the location and velocity of a photon.

Further reading:

‘The wave-particle duality of photons’, Photon Terrace article, https://photonterrace.net/en/photon/duality/

‘Wave-particle duality and uncertainty principles’, section on Wikipedia entry for Photon, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photon#Wave%E2%80%93particle_duality_and_uncertainty_principles

Author bio:

John Hawkhead (@HawkheadJohn) has been writing haiku and illustrating for over 25 years. His work has been published all over the world and he has won a number of haiku competitions. John’s books of haiku and senryu, ‘Small Shadows’ and ‘Bone Moon’, are now available from Alba Publishing (http://www.albapublishing.com/). Read more of John’s sciku here!

Posted on

Quantumku by James Penha

and soon haiku too
will wiggle syllables through
computer wormholes

By James Penha

“In an experiment that ticks most of the mystery boxes in modern physics, a group of researchers announced on Wednesday that they had simulated a pair of black holes in a quantum computer and sent a message between them through a shortcut in space-time called a wormhole… In their report, published Wednesday in Nature, the researchers described the result in measured words: ‘This work is a successful attempt at observing traversable wormhole dynamics in an experimental setting.'”

Quote from The New York Times article ‘Physicists Create ‘The Smallest, Crummiest Wormhole You Can Imagine’ from November 30, 2022.

Further reading:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/30/science/physics-wormhole-quantum-computer.html

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05424-3

Author bio:

Expat New Yorker James Penha  (he/him?) has lived for the past three decades in Indonesia. Nominated for Pushcart Prizes in fiction and poetry, his work is widely published in journals and anthologies. His newest chapbook of poems, American Daguerreotypes, is available for Kindle. His essays have appeared in The New York Daily News and The New York Times. Penha edits TheNewVerse.News, an online journal of current-events poetry. You can find out more about James’ poetry on his website https://jamespenha.com and catch up with him on Twitter @JamesPenha

Read more of James’ sciku here.

Posted on

A Sciku for Rayner Explainer by Dr Michael J. Leach

the best science show
at the Fringe—sound & light waves
illuminate minds

by Dr Michael J. Leach

This sciku is a tribute to science communicator Rayner Explainer’s show A Flying Photon.

This show about the all-important photon—an elementary particle of light—has received excellent reviews, including but not limited to ones in InDaily, On The Record UniSA, and The AU Review.

Following sold-out shows at the Adelaide Fringe 2022, A Flying Photon won the Science at the Fringe Award presented by Inspiring SA. You can read more about the show’s topic in Rachel Rayner’s poem ‘Photonics’, which appeared in the debut issue of Consilience.

Check out more sciku by Michael, including ‘The Burden of Bushfire Smoke‘, ‘The Core Correlate of COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance‘, ‘Drug-Induced Hip Fractures‘, ‘The Psychopharmacological Revolution‘, ‘Quality of Life at Seven Years Post-Stroke‘, ‘The Early Impacts of COVID-19 on Australian General Practice‘, and ‘Australian Science Poetry‘ with science communicator Rachel Rayner. Michael also has another Covid-19-related sciku published in Pulse which is well worth checking out: ‘flu shot announcement‘.

Posted on

A Troika of Quantum Sciku by Jeffery Shevlen

Pauli Exclusion Principle

No suborbitals
Take electron pairs whose spins
consent to agree

Aufbau Principle

Electrons always fill
The lowest energy
Sub-orbitals first

Hund’s Rule

Before forming pairs
Electrons first fill each sub-
Orbital alone

These poems are broadly about the properties of atoms. More specifically they describe three simple rules that came from of the flowering of quantum discovery roughly 100 years ago. Each describes how electrons can populate the zones around an atom’s nucleus which are called orbitals. To me haikus, scikus, wonderfully compliment the subtle interactions of the subatomic realm. Egoless nature, all the way down.

Wikipedia devotes three pages to each of the three axioms. For a more detailed explanation wikipedia is a fine place to start:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pauli_exclusion_principle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aufbau_principle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hund%27s_rule_of_maximum_multiplicity

Jeffrey Shevlen is a stay at home dad and therefore a lifelong, if somewhat bruised, learner. He sends greetings from Ontario, Canada, formerly “Your’s to Discover”, now “A Place to Grow”.