The Sensitive Plant and the Humming Watch

For this week's post I wanted to share two things that I like very much. They don't appear to have much in common; one is a living breathing organism, and the other is a lifeless machine. One is absolutely perfect, and the the other is flawed to the point of being obsolete. Despite these differences (or perhaps because of them), I find myself classing these two creations together.

First up, the Sensitive Plant, or at least that is the name it was introduced to me as when I first saw one on my mission in Thailand (I have learned that they also go by the name Mimosa). My companion showed me one and I was amazed at how the tiny fern-like leaves folded up at the slightest touch. I thought of it as a super-plant because it could "move" - not move over the course of a year like a tree growing, or the course of a morning like a flower opening, things that I had only seen with time-lapse photography. This plant moved before my eyes - furthermore, it moved because of me.

There was an illusion of awareness and intelligence that still strikes me each time I watch it whither from leafy green leaves to thorny brown branches. I imagine that if you are a herbivore, there is nothing appetizing about a mimosa that's been disturbed. Deception seems to be a pretty common tactic in nature, but whereas most plants have a static trickery, already put in place thousands of years ago, this one seems like it's trying to trick me right now; first it wasn't, but now it is. Like when I check on Mason in his top bunk and, after staring hard at him for a while, I see the corners of his mouth turn up in the tiniest smile. The plant is trying to convince me that it is not food and Mason is trying to convince me that he is really asleep; it's not working... but both of them are trying.

Two years ago, Crystal gave us three baby mimosas that she bought in Calgary. I tried to research how to care for them, and couldn't find much info. One site told me they are perennials, but that most people treat them as annuals. I wasn't sure what that meant, but I started burying everything that dropped off the plants, just in case it was a seed. Finally, at the end of the year, some real seed pods developed and we got three more little plants started. Unfortunately, during a trip South last summer, all of our mimosas dried up except for one of the new ones.




Next, the Bulova Accutron tuning fork watch. Mom gave one of these timepieces to my dad as a wedding or anniversary present and I remember often holding it to my ear to listen to it hum. After dad's funeral I tried to find the watch, but by then it was too late, no one could even say when it had gone missing. While searching online for a replacement, I learned that aside from being important sentimentally, it was historically and horologically significant. This technology employed an electrical charge to vibrate a small tuning fork. These vibrations caused a ratchet to turn a special wheel which drove the hands of the watch. As a result of these vibrations, the watch hums at a tone of 360hz and is easily heard in a quiet room. The Accutron was the most accurate watch of its time: plus/minus 15 seconds per week, as compared to the 15 seconds per day of mechanical wristwatches.

Here are some notable details from the Internet:

- In 1962 the Railroad Commission certified the Bulova Accutron watch as the first wristwatch to ever be approved for use by the railroad.
- In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson made the Accutron watch and clock the official "Gift of State" for visiting dignitaries and world leaders.
- In 1964 the Bulova Accutron is chosen to be buried for a time period of 5000 years on the grounds of the New York World Fair in order to save it for future generations as an example of one of the 44 most innovative objects to be invented during the previous 25 years.
- By 1967, Accutron was the only timing device used on Air Force One as well as on many American military ships and planes.
- In 1969 when Apollo 11 landed on the moon, it carried with it an Accutron watch movement. This Bulova timer was left behind to control the transmission of vital data. One of the experiments in which the moon-based Bulova Accutron was critical, was the precise measurement of the distance of the moon from the earth and the changes in that distance over time.

- The ratchet wheel was an outstanding technical achievement: 2.4 mm in diameter, 0.04 mm thick and 300 teeth, each 1/100 mm high. In one year it revolves 38 million times.
- Another technical hallmark were the coils: the driving coil has 8,000 turns made of wire with a diameter of 0.015 mm and an incredible length of about 90 meters.

As I said earlier, this watch is now obsolete - it was no match for the arrival of the modern quartz. Even a cheap quartz watch is much more accurate: plus/minus 15 seconds per month, as opposed to per week for the Accutron. Quartz are also much cheaper to mass-produce. Bulova stopped making tuning fork movements in 1977 (the same year I was born). Spare parts are getting hard to find, and trained technicians even harder - my "guy" is the only authorized technician left in Western Canada! I wear my Accutron to church every week and let the kids take turns listening to it, believing that the tone of 360hz will become a memory for them as it did for me. (There are some interesting facts about this frequency; however, this post has already gotten pretty long, so maybe we will save that for another day).

Here is a quick, nothing fancy video I put together for this post. First you will see our second generation mimosa which shares a bedroom with the possum'ing Mason. In the second half you will see my 1967 Rail Road Approved. Note the sweeping motion of the second hand and contrast it with the dead-seconds tick of a quartz watch.





So why include these two in one post? Well, there's the obvious juxtaposition of nature and technology, one object is growing and the other is wearing down. Both are unique and extraordinary examples of their kind. Mostly though, they go together because each is on my list of favorite things.
And that's also the reason why I wanted to share them.

- C