Force and Flow

I will attempt to specify a distinction between two potentially productive measures of

unit deeds: force and flow.

A ‘unit deed’, ‘Q’, is a class of events that are contributed to by both organismic and
environmental processes. Here, ‘Q’ can be treated as the number of things done, that
is, a count of the deeds of a given class that have been completed. Different classes of
unit deeds (e.g., ‘Q1’ and ‘Q2’) can be specified so that they account for **. A
‘transformation’ is a change in the number of unit deeds. ** ‘contribution’

A ‘force’, ‘X’, is a measure of the contribution by a unit deed to a transformation and

is proportional to the number of unit deeds contributing to a transformation.

X= E/Q [definition] conservative contribution per unit deed

X= Q/c proportionate contribution by unit deeds

c= number of unit deeds required for a given contribution per unit deed

X= Jr, dissipative contribution of flow.

‘Force’ (c/f ‘Voltage’; “V= E/q, & V = q/C”)

A ‘flow’ ‘J’, is a measure of the rate of transformation of unit deeds, that is, the rate of
change in the number of unit deeds completed, ‘dQ’ per unit interval.

J = dQ/dt [definition]

J= X/r, X= Q/c, .: J= kQ, k= rc; dQ/dt = kQ

Jr = Q/c : ‘flow’ by ‘resistance’ = ‘deeds’ per ‘capacitance’

The ‘power’ of any given organisation of unit deeds is the product of the force and
flow. That is the ‘force’ delivered by a ‘flow’.

P = XJ

The ‘energy’, ‘E’, is a quantity that is conserved under transformation,

ET = Σ(Ei) = EC – ED,

E= XJt =
If we define ‘Qn’ to be the count of a class of deeds accomplished in a given period
‘n’, then ‘∆Qn’ is the change in the count of that class of deeds, and, ‘∆Qn/∆n is its rate
of change, or ‘flow’: ‘J’. When a criterion number of Qn is achieved (i.e., Qn ≥ Qc)
within a given number of periods (i.e., ∆n = nc),