“Granted the existence of a certain kind of molecular motion, what is it that determines its direction along one path rather than another?”

— William Crookes

Address to the Society for Psychical Research (1897)
Context: The production of motion, molar or molecular, is governed by physical laws, which it is the business of the philosopher to find out and correlate. The law of the conservation of energy overrides all laws, and it is a preeminent canon of scientific belief that for every act done a corresponding expenditure of energy must be transformed.
No work can be effected without using up a corresponding value in energy of another kind. But to us the other side of the problem is even of more importance. Granted the existence of a certain kind of molecular motion, what is it that determines its direction along one path rather than another?

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William Crookes 46

British chemist and physicist 1832–1919

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“Granted the existence of a certain kind of molecular motion, what is it that determines its direction along one path rather than another?”

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William Crookes 46

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