deepstash
Beta
Fireworks scare us—that’s why we love them
Fireworks and the novelty effect
Fireworks might be especially mesmerizing to us because of their novelty.
As we watch these magnificent pyrotechnic stars explode, we’re exposed to injections of color we don’t normally see.
27 SAVES
6 READS
SIMILAR ARTICLES & IDEAS:
5
Key Ideas
The northern lights, or aurora borealis
The magnetic fields of the sun distort and twist as the Earth rotates on its axis. When these fields become knotted together, they create sunspots. Usually, these sunspots occur in pairs.
A...
Auroras on other worlds
Auroras also occur on planets such as Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. These gas giants have thick atmospheres and strong magnetic fields. These auroras are a little different from Earth's as they are formed under different conditions.
Venus has an aurora generated by its magnetotail. Mars experiences local auroras due to magnetic fields in the crust. There are also northern hemisphere auroras caused by particles hitting the Maritan atmosphere.
Cycles and particles
Northern lights occur roughly every eleven years. Record-keeping of the sun's activity began in 1749. Since then, there have been 22 full cycles.
Particles ejected from the sun travel 93 million miles toward Earth before they are drawn toward the magnetic north and south poles. As the particles move through the Earth's magnetic shield, they mix with the oxygen, nitrogen, and other elements that result in the display of lights.
5
Key Ideas
Why we like art
Art is most exciting when it creates states of psychological conflict, confusion, or dissonance.
While in other circumstances, such an onslaught might make us run a mile, with art, we ...
Visual indeterminacy
It occurs when we are presented with something that we don't immediately recognize. It creates a degree of cognitive dissonance that may be frustrating or even unpleasant.
For example, seeing a vague shape in the corner of a room that might be a cat or a bag. A second look is needed to satisfy our curiosity.
Color conflicts
Complementary colors lie opposite one another on the spectrum. For example, red complements blue, yellow complements violet.
When complementary colors are placed in close proximity, it is apt to cause conflict and disturb the eyes. Used subtly, it can make our eyes dance to a discordant tune.
7
Key Ideas
We Don't Understand Ourselves
We don't realize that we are a bundle of contradictions and are trying to look for someone who can understand us, while we haven't been able to understand ourselves yet.
We think we are a gre...
We Don't Understand Others
Like us, other people are stuck in the same low-level self-realization: we try to gauge the other person by their looks or family or social status, which is a futile exercise in most cases.
We Don't Know Happiness
We aren't accustomed to being happy or have a misguided idea of what happiness is.
We find the ones who would be right for us, to be wrong for us, because of our lack of experience in what good is, and the fact that we don't associate love with being happy and fulfilled.