Those little electrons now free to do great things for us

They buzz all about, unseen, unheard. We might not recognize their existence in nature except for lightning storms. But scientists have tamed those hidden, randomly coursing electron bits of different sizes and capacities. They float around and through us. Our closest ordinary experience seems limited to static electric shocks we receive when opening car doors on dry days.
 
Only recently did it dawn on me how much those little particles of previously untamed energy are being put to human use. We now use these unseen ubiquitous buggers in exciting ways. Rather than continuing to idly and freely cruise around, they increasingly serve us directly.
 
Long ago Benjamin Franklin demonstrated their reality when flying a copper-wired kite (flirting with lightning). Generators were later created to push energy particles through wires, bringing domesticated electricity to homes, schools, offices and entertainment centers. Then these miniballs of electromagnetic energy were tapped to carry radio messages. Scientists advanced the World World II war effort as radar warned of enemy attacks. And soon they brought us over-the-air television and microwave ovens.
 
Now they get tapped wholesale. We corral and use them in their natural state. They allowed for the invention of cell phones; no connecting wires there. At Starbucks one can spring a computer to internet life on wire-free Wi-Fi. One can't get lost with a wireless GPS unit in hand.
 
For most of their use since the 1800s we caged them. We “captured” and forced them through wires that went from A to Z. But today these energy forms are at our disposal anywhere, anytime as we allow them to roam free … until we call on them to serve us. The magnitude of this revolution hit me only recently.
 
My wife decided I needed the Wii Fit exergame. She first presented me with the Wii brand last Christmas. I received the Wii Sports package. On Wii Sports one can play competitive golf, bowling, baseball, tennis and boxing games. While the calorie consumption of these exergames does not reach the level of the real thing, a study shows that calorie burning is still half to three-quarters of its actual counterpart.
 
But it was Wii Fit that led me to realize today's expanding use of nature's unseen energy particles. Though I had wondered about the cell phone radio waves that purposely surround us, I now better grasp the enormous changes brought by the semi-domestication of electrons and their intimate relatives.
 
Wii Fit uses a television screen and operates with two basic pieces of hardware. One is a remote wand. It's something like a television channel changer. The other is a clever balance platform that looks like a low-step aerobics stand. My recognition of how well this latter device works produced my insight into the sophisticated, expanded use of the unseen energy particles.
 
Wii Fit helps one improve physical conditioning and/or performance in four areas: yoga, strength training, balance and aerobics. Each category contains a cafeteria of physical adventures. It was the exercises in the balance group that led me to ponder our use of the unseen electromagnetic world … while working on my physical fitness.
 
As I age I notice that my steadiness has wandered off-center. The Wii Fit program uses diagnostic tests each time I work out to assess this. The tests always confirm that my balance is deficient. So I spend time during each workout engaged in balance-related activities. I play soccer goalie, slalom ski, cruise a river in a bubble (you have to see it to understand), direct billiard balls through holes in odd-shaped tilting boards, and similar fun, but often frustrating, activities.
 
It was as I tried standing one-legged on the pivotal platform during one workout that the new level of electromagnetic connection came to me. I realized that electronic signals were passing unseen, unconnected between the balance board and the Wii receiver. It was graphing and calculating my every move. The signals also moved the dioramic view on the screen. Even my most subtle movements on the balance board were critically noted.
 
I now stand (on two legs) in awe as I realize how much our world is changing now that we no longer require electron filled wires to connect every piece of equipment we use.


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Gary Knox is a retired Yuma area school superintendent and guest columnist for The Sun.