What effect does the protagonist in "To Build a Fire" have on others?

I think the point of the story is that the man's death in the wilderness is pointless—no one is affected, in any significant way. Of course, there are not many characters in the story—other than the man, there is the dog, who is smarter about the cold than the man, and the old timer, whose advice the man ignores, and "the boys" at the camp he is walking to. To me, nature, or the stupendous...

I think the point of the story is that the man's death in the wilderness is pointless—no one is affected, in any significant way. Of course, there are not many characters in the story—other than the man, there is the dog, who is smarter about the cold than the man, and the old timer, whose advice the man ignores, and "the boys" at the camp he is walking to. To me, nature, or the stupendous cold, also is a kind of character, an implacable foe which the man cannot resist. London writes that the the problem with the man was that "he could not imagine," that he was "quick with the things of life...but not their meanings." The man cannot grasp the significance of the cold, beyond the fact that it is cold, nor can he understand his fate until it is too late. As he freezes in the snow, he imagines being with the boys, on the trail, and coming across his frozen body. But the story gives no indication that he thinks "the boys" would be moved by his death. The character most affected is the dog, who, realizing that the man is dead, runs back to the camp, to the "other fire providers."

What does Candy say to them when Lennie and George first arrive at the ranch in Of Mice and Men?

George and Lennie are the two main characters of Steinbeck's novel. They are traveling through depression era California as migrant farm workers. Lennie is mentally challenged and George has been with him ever since Lennie's Aunt Clara died. When they come to the ranch to work, the first character they meet is the old swamper Candy. He's called a swamper because he's basically like a janitor. He "swamps" out the bunkhouse and takes care of...

George and Lennie are the two main characters of Steinbeck's novel. They are traveling through depression era California as migrant farm workers. Lennie is mentally challenged and George has been with him ever since Lennie's Aunt Clara died. When they come to the ranch to work, the first character they meet is the old swamper Candy. He's called a swamper because he's basically like a janitor. He "swamps" out the bunkhouse and takes care of small maintenance jobs on the ranch. When we first meet him he is with a very old dog.

In chapter two George, Lennie and Candy meet in the bunkhouse, and the first conversation between George and Candy is about the bedding. George thinks it might have some parasites because he finds a can of bug repellent on the shelf near his bunk. Candy assures him that it was just that the worker before was quite clean and used the powder just in case:

“Tell you what,” said the old swamper. “This here blacksmith—name of Whitey—was the kind of guy that would put that stuff around even if there wasn’t no bugs—just to make sure, see?"

Candy also tells the men about the various characters on the ranch, including the boss, Crooks, Curley, Curley's wife and Slim. He tells George that the boss was mad the men didn't arrive earlier, but he likes the boss and says,

“Well, he’s a pretty nice fella. Gets pretty mad sometimes, but he’s pretty nice. Tell ya what—know what he done Christmas? Brang a gallon of whisky right in here and says, ‘Drink hearty, boys. Christmas comes but once a year.’” 

Candy describes the stable buck Crooks, a crippled black man who cares for the horses and mules. Candy also likes Crooks and says,

“Yeah. Nice fella too. Got a crooked back where a horse kicked him. The boss gives him hell when he’s mad. But the stable buck don’t give a damn about that. He reads a lot. Got books in his room.”

Candy talks the most about Curley and his wife. Curley is the boss's son and is described as "pugnacious," meaning he's always ready to fight. He was a "Golden Gloves" boxer when he was younger. Candy tells George that Curley often likes to pick fights with bigger men. He explains,

“Never did seem right to me. S’pose Curley jumps a big guy an’ licks him. Ever’body says what a game guy Curley is. And s’pose he does the same thing and gets licked. Then ever’body says the big guy oughtta pick somebody his own size, and maybe they gang up on the big guy. Never did seem right to me. Seems like Curley ain’t givin’ nobody a chance.” 

Curley is often looking for his wife and the two never seem to be at the same place at the same time. Because of this Curley is quite nervous and he ends up fighting Lennie in chapter three.

The source of problems for Curley and later George and Lennie is Curley's wife. Candy describes her as a tramp and a tart. Candy explains that she is often flirting with the other men especially Slim, the jerkline skinner (meaning he drives the mule team). Candy says, 

“I seen her give Slim the eye. Slim’s a jerkline skinner. Hell of a nice fella. Slim don’t need to wear no high-heeled boots on a grain team. I seen her give Slim the eye. Curley never seen it. An’ I seen her give Carlson the eye.”

And a few lines later he says, “Well, you look her over, mister. You see if she ain’t a tart.”

Candy is the most sympathetic character in the book. The ending is not only sad because George has to kill Lennie, but also because the dream of the farm is lost and Candy is stuck in his life at the ranch. 

What are the important themes in Of Mice and Men?

In my opinion there are three major themes in Steinbeck's novella Of Mice and Men, including the importance of friendship, the pain of loneliness, and the idea of the American Dream.

The theme of friendship is exemplified by the relationship between George and Lennie. They travel together throughout California as migrant farm workers. They've been companions ever since Lennie's Aunt Clara died. George is somewhat of a caretaker for Lennie, who is mentally challenged....

In my opinion there are three major themes in Steinbeck's novella Of Mice and Men, including the importance of friendship, the pain of loneliness, and the idea of the American Dream.

The theme of friendship is exemplified by the relationship between George and Lennie. They travel together throughout California as migrant farm workers. They've been companions ever since Lennie's Aunt Clara died. George is somewhat of a caretaker for Lennie, who is mentally challenged. The reader may also assume that, even though Lennie is often a problem, George cares for him very much. In chapter one, George describes the friendship between the two men:

“With us it ain’t like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us. We don’t have to sit in no bar room blowin’ in our jack jus’ because we got no place else to go. If them other guys gets in jail they can rot for all anybody gives a damn. But not us.” 

George ultimately shows his true friendship to Lennie by killing him in a merciful act at the end of the novel. 

The pain of loneliness pervades the novel. The reader may focus on Curley's wife and Crooks as the two loneliest characters. Curley's wife seeks companionship throughout the novel and, unfortunately, is perceived as a tramp or a tart because she often tries to talk to the men on the ranch. Her husband, Curley, is both belligerent and insensitive. The two are never pictured together in any scene until the end when the girl is dead. She talks about her loneliness in chapter five when speaking to Crooks, Candy, and Lennie. She says,

“—Sat’iday night. Ever’body out doin’ som’pin’. Ever’body! An’ what am I doin’? Standin’ here talkin’ to a bunch of bindle stiffs—a nigger an’ a dum-dum and a lousy ol’ sheep—an’ likin’ it because they ain’t nobody else.” 

In the end, Curley's wife's loneliness and search for companionship causes her death, as she is accidentally killed by Lennie.

Because he is black, Crooks is segregated from the rest of the men and tells Lennie it is hard to live alone in his room in the barn. He wishes he had someone to talk to. Crooks says,

“A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t make no difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with you. I tell ya,” he cried, “I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick.” 

The American Dream is also relevant in the story. Americans have always strived for freedom, and having one's own house or piece of land is an extension of that. For George and Lennie, the dream of a "little piece of land" is something they always talk about. In chapter three, George describes the dream in some detail:

“Sure, we’d have a little house an’ a room to ourself. Little fat iron stove, an’ in the winter we’d keep a fire goin’ in it. It ain’t enough land so we’d have to work too hard. Maybe six, seven hours a day. We wouldn’t have to buck no barley eleven hours a day. An’ when we put in a crop, why, we’d be there to take the crop up. We’d know what come of our planting.” 

Having overheard George's plans, Candy offers to contribute money and become a part of the dream. For a time, with the money contributed by Candy, the three men have the dream almost within their grasp. When Lennie kills Curley's wife, George realizes the dream is dead.

In Harper Lee's To kill a Mockingbird, how does Dill rescue Jem from Atticus finding out the truth about what happened to Jem's pants?

In Chapter 6 of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, on Dill's last night in Maycomb for the summer, Jem and Dill decide to sneak on to the Radleys' property to try and get a glimpse of Arthur (Boo) Radley through a window, and they drag a reluctant Scout with them. When shots are fired, the three children flee for their lives. During the escape, Jem gets his pants caughtin the barbed wire...

In Chapter 6 of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, on Dill's last night in Maycomb for the summer, Jem and Dill decide to sneak on to the Radleys' property to try and get a glimpse of Arthur (Boo) Radley through a window, and they drag a reluctant Scout with them. When shots are fired, the three children flee for their lives. During the escape, Jem gets his pants caught in the barbed wire fence and must abandon them to escape. However, once they escape and reach the front yard, they see Atticus and their neighbors gathered in front of the Radleys' gate. Jem knows they must talk to them or look guilty, which means Jem must show up in front of neighbors without his pants on, and Dill must find a way to cover for him.

When Jem and the other two children approach their gathering of neighbors to ask what happen, Miss Stephanie is the first to notice Jem is not wearing any pants. When Atticus asks, "Where're your pants, son?," Dill, always a quick and imaginative thinker, is the first to be able to invent an excuse to help Jem save face:

Ah--I won 'em from him ... We were playin' strip poker up yonder by the fishpool. (Ch. 6)

Though Atticus believes the story, the negative side to the event is that the story infuriates Dill's aunt, Miss Rachel. Regardless, Atticus is able to pacify Miss Rachel by ensuring it wasn't a serious issue, just a phase all children go through, which prevents Dill from getting into trouble.

To what extent is Willy the anti-hero?

I wouldn't call Willy an anti-hero. While there is some ambiguity around the term, an antihero is generally a character who undergoes the classic hero's journey without having all of the typical moral qualities of a conventional hero. This is a term that is more applicable to epic than to tragedy. In tragedy it is much more normal for the hero of the story to be flawed. Being flawed in a tragedy does not make...

I wouldn't call Willy an anti-hero. While there is some ambiguity around the term, an antihero is generally a character who undergoes the classic hero's journey without having all of the typical moral qualities of a conventional hero. This is a term that is more applicable to epic than to tragedy. In tragedy it is much more normal for the hero of the story to be flawed. Being flawed in a tragedy does not make the protagonist an antihero. Given this, though I do agree that Willy is the primary subject of the play, I would call him a tragic hero rather than an antihero. 

He follows more in the tradition of Greek tragedy. In this genre of drama a largely good-natured person suffers due to a crucial flaw. Willy is certainly more flawed than the typical greek hero, but I would argue he is essentially still good at the core. Despite his cruel behavior, cheating, and obsession with success, he is in many ways a victim of a vapid society, a poor upbringing, and a misconception of the drivers of true happiness. Deep down he still loves his sons and wants them to do well in life. His is blinded by vanity and insecurity.

An antihero is an extraordinary person who accomplishes extraordinary things despite less than perfect moral qualities. Willy is in many ways the opposite of this. He is an ordinary man who accomplishes very little, despite a core desire to be good. He falls short because of his flaws and his failures.

A potassium foil is placed at a distance 0.5 m from the light source whose output power is 0.1 Watt. How long would it take for foil to saturate...

If the output power of the light source is P = 0.1 Watt, the intensity of the light at the location of the potassium foil (d = 0.5 meters away) will be

`I = P/(4pid^2) = 0.1/(4pi(0.5)^2) = 0.032 W/m^2`

This means the power (or the rate of energy) at which the circular area of foil with the given radius `r = 1.3*10^(-10)` m will absorb the light will be

`P_a = I*(pir^2) = 0.032 *...

If the output power of the light source is P = 0.1 Watt, the intensity of the light at the location of the potassium foil (d = 0.5 meters away) will be

`I = P/(4pid^2) = 0.1/(4pi(0.5)^2) = 0.032 W/m^2`

This means the power (or the rate of energy) at which the circular area of foil with the given radius `r = 1.3*10^(-10)` m will absorb the light will be

`P_a = I*(pir^2) = 0.032 * pi(1.3*10^(-10))^2 = 1.69*10^(-21)` W. (We can neglect the fact that the points on this piece of foil are possibly at different distances from the light source because the radius is so much smaller than the distance from the light source.)

So the energy rate at which the given area absorbs the light is

`1.69 * 10^(-21) W` . Assuming the rate is uniform, the energy absorbed during time t will be

`E = P_a*t ` . The energy required to eject and electron is

`E = 1.8 eV = 1.8 * 1.6*10^(-19) = 2.88*10^(-19) J` .

Thus, the time it will take to absorb this energy is

`t = E/(P_a) = (2.88*10^(-19))/(1.69*10^(-21)) = 170.4 s`

It would take the foil 170.4 seconds to saturate enough energy to absorb an electron.

A soap film is viewed in white light. If the film is much thinner than the wavelength of blue light, what is the appearance of the film?

The effect involved in here is called thin film interference. It occurs when light reflected from the upper boundary (or first surface) of a material interferes with the light reflected from the lower boundary (or second surface). This interference can be destructive (when the phase difference is equal to `pi` ) or constructive (no phase difference).

We need to use a fact to understand what we will see in our case. For a soap film (or water), when light hits the first surface (from air to "water"), the reflected light has a phase change of `pi`Some of the light rays get transmitted (with no phase change) and reflected on the second surface (with no phase change as well). At the end, the first reflected light ray has a phase change of `pi` while the second reflected light ray has no phase change (when compared to the original incident light ray).

Now, when we assume that the thickness of our film is much smaller than the wavelength of the blue light, we see that the difference in the path lengths (difference in path lengths give rise to phase differences too) of the two reflected light rays is negligible, thus, no new phase change is created and the reflected rays have a phase difference of `pi` ( because `pi` - 0 = `pi` ). So for the blue light, all interference is destructive for the reflection. And since the blue light is the one with the smallest wavelength that we can see, all the other colors get destructive interference as well (for the same reason). Thus, the soap film becomes black (reflectionless would be a better term because we can still see through the soap film), because no light is being reflected from it!

If we increase the thickness of our soap film to around one-quarter of the wavelength of the blue light, only red and green light will be reflected, and the soap film will appear yellow.

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