Answer to the Question 08/03
PILLOWThe question was:
Why is pillow soft?
(10/04) The problem has been solved (25/8/04) by Somak Ray (e-mail somak_ray@yahoo.com). Here is his (slightly edited) answer:
Soft matters are deformable. A pillow is soft because when we press it, it moulds around the head and so the reactive force is distributed on a large surface area and so exerts less pressure giving a 'soft' feeling.
On the contrary when we press a hand against a concrete wall say, the force exerted by the wall acts on fewer points on the hand like on the knuckles and joints, thereby exerting more pressure and so the wall feels "hard'.
(10/04) Y. Kantor: The above answer essentially answers the question. Can we make the concept of softness more "quantitative"? We expect additional correspondence on the subject.
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