Hi Guys this is my new blog and its all about one of the most significant things about science PHYSICS.So before we go in to deeper ends of this vast arena lets talk about what we are dealing with or in other words what is physics.
Physics is more generally described as the study of matter and energy. It is concerned with how matter and energy
relate to each other, and how they affect each other over time
and through space. Physicists ask the more fundamental questions how did the universe begin?
how and of what is it made? how does it change? what rules govern its behavior?
Physicists may be roughly divided into two camps: experimental physicists and theoretical physicists. Experimental
physicists design and run careful investigations on a broad range of
phenomena in nature, often under conditions which are atypical of
our everyday lives. They may, for example, investigate what happens
to the electrical properties of materials at temperatures very
near absolute zero or measure the
characteristics of energy emitted by very hot gases. Theoretical
physicists propose and develop models and theories to explain
mathematically the results of experimental observations. Experiment and theory therefore have a broad overlap.
Accordingly, an experimental
physicist remains keenly aware of the current theoretical work in his
or her field, while the theoretical physicist must know the experimenter's
results and the context in which the results need be interpreted.
phenomena in nature, often under conditions which are atypical of
our everyday lives. They may, for example, investigate what happens
to the electrical properties of materials at temperatures very
near absolute zero or measure the
characteristics of energy emitted by very hot gases. Theoretical
physicists propose and develop models and theories to explain
mathematically the results of experimental observations. Experiment and theory therefore have a broad overlap.
Accordingly, an experimental
physicist remains keenly aware of the current theoretical work in his
or her field, while the theoretical physicist must know the experimenter's
results and the context in which the results need be interpreted.
It is also useful to distinguish classical physics and modern physics. Classical physics has its origins approximately
four hundred years ago in the studies of Galileo and Newton on mechanics, and similarly, in the work of
Ampere, Faraday, Maxwell and Oersted one hundred fifty years ago
in the fields of electricity and magnetism. This physics handles objects
which are neither too large nor
too small, which move at relatively slow speeds (at least compared
to the speed of light: 186,000 miles per second!).
The emergence of modern physics
at the beginning of the twentieth century was marked by three
achievements. The first,
in 1905, was Einstein's
brilliant model of light as a stream of
particles (photons). The second, which followed a few months later, was
his revolutionary theory of relativity which described objects moving
at speeds close to the speed of light. The third breakthrough came
in 1910 with
Rutherford's
discovery of the nucleus of the atom.Rutherford's work was followed
by Bohr's model of the atom, which in turn
stimulated the work of de Broglie, Heisenberg, Schroedinger, Born, Pauli, Dirac and others on the quantum theory. The avalanche
of exciting discoveries in modern physics continues today.
The emergence of modern physics
at the beginning of the twentieth century was marked by three
achievements. The first,
in 1905, was Einstein's
brilliant model of light as a stream of
particles (photons). The second, which followed a few months later, was
his revolutionary theory of relativity which described objects moving
at speeds close to the speed of light. The third breakthrough came
in 1910 with
Rutherford's
discovery of the nucleus of the atom.Rutherford's work was followed
by Bohr's model of the atom, which in turn
stimulated the work of de Broglie, Heisenberg, Schroedinger, Born, Pauli, Dirac and others on the quantum theory. The avalanche
of exciting discoveries in modern physics continues today.
Given these distinctions within the field of physics experimental and theoretical, classical and modern it is useful to further subdivide physics into
various disciplines, including
astrophysics, atomic and molecular physics, biophysics, solid state physics,
optical and laser physics, fluid
and plasma physics, nuclear physics, and particle physics.
Below you can find references to recent
representative articles from Scientific American on
major branches of physics.
No comments:
Post a Comment