Heat Exchange and Theodolite

     A heat exchanger is a piece of equipment used to transfer heat from one source to another. A famous example would be the internal combustion engine, used to power our cars. Heat exchangers can take on many forms and types, though. Interestingly, human nasal passages also serve as a type of heat exchanger, warming air as it enters the nose, and cooling the air as it exits the nose. Certain types of animals also use heat exchange in their bodies, such as whales and fish. There are some pretty complex mathematical equations which model a 'simple' heat exchange using Newton's law of cooling, among other things.

     The exchange of heat is of interest to our readings of Arcadia, because of the nature of Thomasina and Valentine's collaborative work. They are concerned with "the action of bodies in heat," (84) and this could have a double meaning as those bodies may be human bodies embracing a side of beef, or as Thomasina puts it, "Chater would overthrow the Newtonian system in a weekend." Valentine calls this "the attraction that Newton left out," on p. 74. Also at stake is the loss of heat, and how although Newton's laws should work both ways, backwards and forwards, heat exchange works in only one direction only, much like the cream in coffee or jam in pudding. This is related to our problem of being able to move through time in only one direction, and the play is obviously playing with that assumption.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_exchanger

    A Theodolite is basically a type of telescope resting between two axes, used to measure angles on vertical and horizontal planes. They have been in 'continuous' use since 1894, in archaeology and geology, sometimes even rocket launches. These are used as survey equipment, although they are not to be confused with the builder's levels which we sometimes see mounted on tripods in construction sites.

     We have already noted in class how the theodolite serves as a significant prop in the play, and the significance of the theodolite becomes more apparent near the end of the play. It is used by Noakes to measure the landscape, and it could also be used as a device to illustrate the different angles at which we see characters through the lens of time and space. Near the end, the modern characters are posing in costume with the theodolite, which must be retrieved from the hermitage. What was it doing there? Perhaps it has to do with who was in the hermitage and why.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodolite