, el The Deborah Number ‘The following lines are from an after: dinner talk presented at the Fourth International Congress uhich took place last August in Prov dence, R. 1. Marcus Reiner, research fprofesor at the Isrock Institute of ‘Technology, is currently in the United States as visiting profeswor at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. fon Rheology, In 1928 T came from Palestine to Easton, Pa, to assist Eugene Cook Bingham at the birth of Rheology. 1 felt. strangely at home. There was Bethlehem quite near, there was 2 river Jordan and a village called lite Egypt. The situation was, however, ‘abo slightly confusing, To go {rom Bethlehem to Egypt, one had to cross the river Jordan, a topological feature {which did not conform to the original. "Then there were, here, places such a5 ‘Allentown to which there was no anal ogy. And this could lead to strange fituations, such as when a girl at school was asked where Christ was born and replied, “In Allentown” When corrected by “No, in Bethle- them," she remarked, "I knew it was somewhere around here.” in Palestine I was working as a civil engineer doing science as a hobby. In 1026 a chemist had asked my help in the problem of the flow of # plastic material through a tube. I solved the problem and derived what is now Known asthe . Buckingham-Reiner equation, Buckingham at the US N: tional Bureau of Standards having de- rived the equation before. When Bing- fram tearned of my work, he invited ime to Lafayette College. When I arrived, Bingham said (0 me, “Here you, a civil engineer, and Tea chemist, are working together at joint problems. With the development Of colloid chemistry, such a situation ill be more and more common. We Therefore must establish a branch of ca 6 JANUARY 1964 «PHYSICS TODAY physics where such problems will be dealt sith. 1 sid, ready exists; it is called mechanics of Contiauous media, or mechanics of ‘No, this will not do," Bingham Te plied. “Such a designation will frighten Away the chemist.” ‘So he consulted the professor of classical languages and arrived at the designation of rheology, taking as the motto of the subject Heraclitus’ avra pet or “everything flows.” Rheology has become 2 wellknown “This branch of physics al- branch of physic, but most typists think it is @ misprint for theology. T Constantly receive mail addressed to the Theological Laboratory of the Is rael Institute of Technology and, on the occasion of the Second Interna- tional Congress at Oxford ten years fago, there wis a special coach in the train at Paddington Station reserved for che members of the Theological Congress. This seems ridiculous, but there. is some relation between rheol- ogy and theology, and on this I want to say a few words Heraclitus’ “everything flows” was not entirely satisfactory. Were we to ‘Gisregard the solid and deal with fluids only? ‘There are solids in rheology, feven if they may show relaxation of stress and consequently creep." ‘The way out of this difficulty had been shown by the Prophetess Deb- orah even before Heraclitus. In her famous song after the victory over the Philistines, she sang, “The mountains flowed before the Lond.” When, over 4300 years ago, che Bible was translated into English, the translators, who had never heard of Heraclitus, translated the passage as "The mountains melted before the Lord"—and so it stands in the authorized version. But Deboralt knew two things, First, that the moun- tains flow, as everything flows. But, econdly, that they flowed before the Lord, and not before man, for the simple reason that man in his short Tifetime cannot see them flowing, while Sand a th Congress a faree somber of avers esl with soi (nse- Poy we s? By M. Reine the time of observation of God i / Tnfinite. We may therefore well de fine as a nondimensional number the Deborah number ' D = time of relaxation/time of observation. “The diference between solids and Be fds is then defined by the magnitude Of D. Tt your time of observation i Sexy large, oF, conversely, ifthe time Of relanation of the material nde Sbuervation is very small, you see the Shaterial flowing, On the other han it che time of relaxation of the terial larger than your time of ob servation, the material, for all pract-{ Scr purposes, is a solid, In problem. St indus design, you may in ‘duce the time of service for the time Ot observation. When designing a oncrete, bridge you make up your | dl to decide how Tong you expec to serve, and then compare this time inicrval with the time of relaxation Seon I Ie therefore appears that the Debs orah number is Gestined t0 become) the fundamental number of rheology, bringing solids and Ruids under a com} gnome concept, and leaving eraclitut smoeras pee asa special cas for infinite Tins of observation, oF infinitely small time of zelaxation, ‘The greater the} Deborah number, the more solid the | he saller” the Debora mromber, the more Suid it is There fa story they tell about 699! seudents of theology. They were prat Ing the Almighty God, Said one: "Fot Ged, one thousand. years are Tike @ Snimute, And as He i the Creator of Ma thousand dollars are for Hist Hike a cent" Said the other: “Wonder fu next time T pray to God I shall tray. "God, give me a cent.” Said the Fae, "What will it help you? He will sey "Wait a inate “rhis man did not take care of the difference between God's and Wis owt {hme see. And this isthe connection betucen theology and theology: Ine wey problem of theology make sure Pic you use the ight Deborah mus ber. material i TH “TH THE ME THI