Foundations of Energy
How energy is stored, transferred and transformed — from falling objects to living cells.
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- A line with no arrow is a two-way relationship
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14 concepts17 relationships13 disciplines6 relation families
Alternating current
Open concept →At a glance
Alternating current (AC) is an electric current that periodically reverses direction and changes its magnitude continuously with time, in contrast to direct current (DC), which flows only in one direction.
- Disciplines
- Physics · Electrical Engineering
- Role in the graph
- Cross-disciplinary bridge — reaches Biology, Electromagnetism, Mechanics
- Relationships
- 2 · 2 relation families
- Mental models
- 1
Insights from this view
Structural observations about the concepts shown here — descriptions of this graph, not claims about the world.
- This view connects 13 disciplines: Acoustics, Biology, Chemistry, Electrical Engineering, Electromagnetism, Electronics Engineering, Mathematics, Mechanics, Music, Oceanography, Optics, Physical Chemistry, Physics.
- Alternating current is a bridge concept — viewed here through Electrical Engineering, Physics.
- The connections here span 6 relation families.
- Oscillation explains 3 concepts in this view (Acoustics, Biology, Electrical Engineering, Mechanics, Oceanography, Optics, Physics).
Relationships as a list
The focused concept’s relationships. Pick another concept in the graph above to update this list.
Explore through a different lens
A lens is a deterministic projection of the graph. Pick a discipline, thinking pattern or journey to reframe the whole view.
By thinking pattern
Bayesian updatingCause and effectCompoundingConservationConstraintsDefense in depthDiffusion & spreadEmergenceEnergy transformationEntropy & irreversibilityEquilibriumFeedback loopIncentivesInformationLevels & hierarchyModularityNetworksOptimizationOscillationProbabilityRecursion & self-similarityScaleSignal vs noiseSource–pathway–receptorStocks and flowsSymmetry & invarianceThresholds & tipping pointsTrade-offsTriangulationVariation & selectionWaves
Concept collections
Concept collections are curated lenses onto the fabric — themed sets of ideas that recur across disciplines. They are not journeys; they are a way to read the graph.
Understanding Systems
Stocks, flows and feedback — why wholes behave in ways their parts do not.
Patterns Everywhere
Regularities that recur across maths, music, nature and art.
How Information Moves
Encoding, signals and noise — the same idea in computers, genes and nerves.
About this view
What this is
Start from one concept and expand outward. The view never shows everything at once — click a node to refocus, filter by relationship type, or switch to an accessible list.
One fabric
3750 concepts and 5051 typed relations form one connected component — no isolated silo.
How to read it
Focus a concept, or apply a lens (discipline, mental model, journey) to see only the threads that matter.