drumskin wants to return to its neutral position

An example of anthropomorphism in science writing:

"A weight will sit motionless on a spring at its balanced position, but tug it down a little the spring pulls back. Similarly, a curved violin string wants to go back to being a straight line. …

It's fairly straightforward to write the differential equation that tells you how strongly any point on the drumskin wants to return to its neutral position."

David Lindley

Lindley, D. (2020). The Dream Universe. How fundamental physics lost its way. Doubleday.

Read about anthropomorphism

Read examples of anthropomorphism in science

Many examples of anthropomorphism are listed in 'Creative comparisons: Making science familiar through language. An illustrative catalogue of figurative comparisons and analogies for science concepts'. Free Download.

Author: Keith

Former school and college science teacher, teacher educator, research supervisor, and research methods lecturer. Emeritus Professor of Science Education at the University of Cambridge.