Physics: Definitions and Applications

Learning objectives

Section Key Terms

What Physics Is

Think about all of the technological devices that you use on a regular basis. Computers, wireless internet, smart phones, tablets, global positioning system (GPS), MP3 players, and satellite radio might come to mind. Next, think about the most exciting modern technologies that you have heard about in the news, such as trains that levitate above their tracks, invisibility cloaks that bend light around them, and microscopic robots that fight diseased cells in our bodies. All of these groundbreaking advancements rely on the principles of physics.

Physics is a branch of science. The word science comes from a Latin word that means having knowledge, and refers to the knowledge of how the physical world operates, based on objective evidence determined through observation and experimentation. A key requirement of any scientific explanation of a natural phenomenon is that it must be testable; one must be able to devise and conduct an experimental investigation that either supports or refutes the explanation. It is important to note that some questions fall outside the realm of science precisely because they deal with phenomena that are not scientifically testable. This need for objective evidence helps define the investigative process scientists follow, which will be described later in this chapter.

Physics is the science aimed at describing the fundamental aspects of our universe. This includes what things are in it, what properties of those things are noticeable, and what processes those things or their properties undergo. In simpler terms, physics attempts to describe the basic mechanisms that make our universe behave the way it does. For example, consider a smart phone (Figure_01_01_phone). Physics describes how electric current interacts with the various circuits inside the device. This knowledge helps engineers select the appropriate materials and circuit layout when building the smart phone. Next, consider a GPS. Physics describes the relationship between the speed of an object, the distance over which it travels, and the time it takes to travel that distance. When you use a GPS device in a vehicle, it utilizes these physics relationships to determine the travel time from one location to another.

As our technology evolved over the centuries, physics expanded into many branches. Ancient peoples could only study things that they could see with the naked eye or otherwise experience without the aid of scientific equipment. This included the study of kinematics, which is the study of moving objects. For example, ancient people often studied the apparent motion of objects in the sky, such as the sun, moon, and stars. This is evident in the construction of prehistoric astronomical observatories, such as Stonehenge in England (shown in Figure_01_01_Stonehenge).

Ancient people also studied statics and dynamics, which focus on how objects start moving, stop moving, and change speed and direction in response to forces that push or pull on the objects. This early interest in kinematics and dynamics allowed humans to invent simple machines, such as the lever, the pulley, the ramp, and the wheel. These simple machines were gradually combined and integrated to produce more complicated machines, such as wagons and cranes. Machines allowed humans to gradually do more work more effectively in less time, allowing them to create larger and more complicated buildings and structures, many of which still exist today from ancient times.

As technology advanced, the branches of physics diversified even more. These include branches such as acoustics, the study of sound, and optics, the study of the light. In 1608, the invention of the telescope by a German spectacle maker, Hans Lippershey, led to huge breakthroughs in astronomy—the study of objects or phenomena in space. One year later, in 1609, Galileo Galilei began the first studies of the solar system and the universe using a telescope. During the Baroque era, Isaac Newton used observations made by Galileo to construct his three laws of motion. These laws were the standard for studying kinematics and dynamics even today.

Another major branch of physics is thermodynamics, which includes the study of thermal energy and the transfer of heat. James Prescott Joule, an English physicist, studied the nature of heat and its relationship to work. Joule’s work helped lay the foundation for the first of three laws of thermodynamics that describe how energy in our universe is transferred from one object to another or transformed from one form to another. Studies in thermodynamics were motivated by the need to make engines more efficient, keep people safe from the elements, and preserve food.

The 18^th and 19^th centuries also saw great strides in the study of electricity and magnetism. Electricity involves the study of electric charges and their movements. Magnetism had long ago been noticed as an attractive force between a magnetized object and a metal like iron, or between the opposite poles (North and South) of two magnetized objects. In 1820, Danish physicist Hans Christian Oersted showed that electric currents create magnetic fields. In 1831, English inventor Michael Faraday showed that moving a wire through a magnetic field could induce an electric current. These studies led to the inventions of the electric motor and electric generator, which revolutionized human life by bringing electricity and magnetism into our machines.

The end of the 19^th century saw the discovery of radioactive substances by the scientists Marie and Pierre Curie. Nuclear physics involves studying the nuclei of atoms, the source of nuclear radiation. In the 20^th century, the study of nuclear physics eventually led to the ability to split the nucleus of an atom, a process called nuclear fission. This process is the basis for nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons. Also, the field of quantum mechanics, which involves the mechanics of atoms and molecules, saw great strides during the 20^th century as our understanding of atoms and subatomic particles increased (see below).

Early in the 20^th century, Albert Einstein revolutionized several branches of physics, especially relativity. Relativity revolutionized our understanding of motion and the universe in general as described further in this chapter. Now, in the 21^st century, physicists continue to study these and many other branches of physics.

By studying the most important topics in physics, you will gain analytical abilities that will enable you to apply physics far beyond the scope of what can be included in a single book. These analytical skills will help you to excel academically, and they will also help you to think critically in any career you choose to pursue.

Physics: Past and Present

The word physics is thought to come from the Greek word phusis, meaning nature. The study of nature later came to be called natural philosophy. From ancient times through the Renaissance, natural philosophy encompassed many fields, including astronomy, biology, chemistry, mathematics, and medicine. Over the last few centuries, the growth of scientific knowledge has resulted in ever-increasing specialization and branching of natural philosophy into separate fields, with physics retaining the most basic facets. Physics, as it developed from the Renaissance to the end of the 19^th century, is called classical physics. Revolutionary discoveries starting at the beginning of the 20^th century transformed physics from classical physics to modern physics.

Classical physics is not an exact description of the universe, but it is an excellent approximation under the following conditions: (1) matter must be moving at speeds less than about 1 percent of the speed of light, (2) the objects dealt with must be large enough to be seen with the naked eye, and (3) only weak gravity, such as that generated by Earth, can be involved. Very small objects, such as atoms and molecules, cannot be adequately explained by classical physics. These three conditions apply to almost all of everyday experience. As a result, most aspects of classical physics should make sense on an intuitive level.

Many laws of classical physics have been modified during the 20^th century, resulting in revolutionary changes in technology, society, and our view of the universe. As a result, many aspects of modern physics, which occur outside of the range of our everyday experience, may seem bizarre or unbelievable. So why is most of this textbook devoted to classical physics? There are two main reasons. The first is that knowledge of classical physics is necessary to understand modern physics. The second reason is that classical physics still gives an accurate description of the universe under a wide range of everyday circumstances.

Modern physics includes two revolutionary theories: relativity and quantum mechanics. These theories deal with the very fast and the very small, respectively. The theory of relativity was developed by Albert Einstein in 1905. By examining how two observers moving relative to each other would see the same phenomena, Einstein devised radical new ideas about time and space. He came to the startling conclusion that the measured length of an object travelling at high speeds (greater than about one percent of the speed of light) is shorter than the same object measured at rest. Perhaps even more bizarre is the idea that the time for the same process to occur is different depending on the motion of the observer. Time passes more slowly for an object travelling at high speeds. A trip to the nearest star system, Alpha Centauri, might take an astronaut 4.5 Earth years if the ship travels near the speed of light. However, because time is slowed at higher speeds, the astronaut would age only 0.5 years during the trip. Einstein’s ideas of relativity were accepted after they were confirmed by numerous experiments.

Gravity, the force that holds us to Earth, can also affect time and space. For example, time passes more slowly on Earth’s surface than for objects farther from the surface, such as a satellite in orbit. The very accurate clocks on global positioning satellites have to correct for this. They slowly keep getting ahead of clocks at Earth’s surface. This is called time dilation, and it occurs because gravity, in essence, slows down time.

Large objects, like Earth, have strong enough gravity to distort space. To visualize this idea, think about a bowling ball placed on a trampoline. The bowling ball depresses or curves the surface of the trampoline. If you rolled a marble across the trampoline, it would follow the surface of the trampoline, roll into the depression caused by the bowling ball, and hit the ball. Similarly, the Earth curves space around it in the shape of a funnel. These curves in space due to the Earth cause objects to be attracted to Earth (i.e., gravity).

Because of the way gravity affects space and time, Einstein stated that gravity affects the space-time continuum, as illustrated in Figure_01_01_Earth. This is why time proceeds more slowly at Earth’s surface than in orbit. In black holes, whose gravity is hundreds of times that of Earth, time passes so slowly that it would appear to a far-away observer to have stopped!

In summary, relativity says that in describing the universe, it is important to realize that time, space and speed are not absolute. Instead, they can appear different to different observers. Einstein’s ability to reason out relativity is even more amazing because we cannot see the effects of relativity in our everyday lives.

Quantum mechanics is the second major theory of modern physics. Quantum mechanics deals with the very small, namely, the subatomic particles that make up atoms. Atoms (Figure_01_01_gold) are the smallest units of elements. However, atoms themselves are constructed of even smaller subatomic particles, such as protons, neutrons and electrons. Quantum mechanics strives to describe the properties and behavior of these and other subatomic particles. Often, these particles do not behave in the ways expected by classical physics.

At particle colliders (Figure_01_01_collider), such as the Large Hadron Collider on the France-Swiss border, particle physicists can make subatomic particles travel at very high speeds within a 27 kilometers (17 miles) long superconducting tunnel. They can then study the properties of the particles at high speeds, as well as collide them with each other to see how they exchange energy. This has led to many intriguing discoveries such as the Higgs-Boson particle, which gives matter the property of mass, and antimatter, which causes a huge energy release when it comes in contact with matter.

Physicists are currently trying to unify the two theories of modern physics, relativity and quantum mechanics, into a single, comprehensive theory called relativistic quantum mechanics. Relating the behavior of subatomic particles to gravity, time, and space will allow us to explain how the universe works in a much more comprehensive way.

Application of Physics

You need not be a scientist to use physics. On the contrary, knowledge of physics is useful in everyday situations as well as in nonscientific professions. For example, physics can help you understand why you shouldn’t put metal in the microwave (Figure_01_01_microwave), why a black car radiator helps remove heat in a car engine, and why a white roof helps keep the inside of a house cool. The operation of a car’s ignition system, as well as the transmission of electrical signals through our nervous system, are much easier to understand when you think about them in terms of the basic physics of electricity.

Physics is the foundation of many important scientific disciplines. For example, chemistry deals with the interactions of atoms and molecules. Not surprisingly, chemistry is rooted in atomic and molecular physics. Most branches of engineering are also applied physics. In architecture, physics is at the heart of determining structural stability, acoustics, heating, lighting, and cooling for buildings. Parts of geology, the study of nonliving parts of Earth, rely heavily on physics; including radioactive dating, earthquake analysis, and heat transfer across Earth’s surface. Indeed, some disciplines, such as biophysics and geophysics, are hybrids of physics and other disciplines.

Physics also describes the chemical processes that power the human body. Physics is involved in medical diagnostics, such as x-rays, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and ultrasonic blood flow measurements (Figure_01_01_eye). Physics also has many applications in biology, the study of life. For example, physics describes how cells can protect themselves using their cell walls and cell membranes (Figure_01_01_cell). Medical therapy sometimes directly involves physics, such as in using X-rays to diagnose health conditions. Physics can also explain what we perceive with our senses, such as how the ears detect sound or the eye detects color.

In summary, physics studies many of the most basic aspects of science. A knowledge of physics is, therefore, necessary to understand all other sciences. This is because physics explains the most basic ways in which our universe works. However, it is not necessary to formally study all applications of physics. A knowledge of the basic laws of physics will be most useful to you, so that you can use them to solve some everyday problems. In this way, the study of physics can improve your problem-solving skills.

Check Your Understanding

Section Summary

• Physics is the most fundamental of the sciences, concerning itself with energy, matter, space and time, and their interactions.
• Modern physics involves the theory of relativity, which describes how time, space and gravity are not constant in our universe can be different for different observers, and quantum mechanics, which describes the behavior of subatomic particles.
• Physics is the basis for all other sciences, such as chemistry, biology and geology, because physics describes the fundamental way in which the universe functions.

Concept Items

Critical Thinking

Test Prep Multiple Choice

Test Prep Short Answer

Glossary

atom

smallest and most basic units of matter

classical physics

physics, as it developed from the Renaissance to the end of the nineteenth century

modern physics

physics as developed from the twentieth century to the present, involving the theories of relativity and quantum mechanics

physics

science aimed at describing the fundamental aspects of our universe—energy, matter, space, motion, and time

quantum mechanics

major theory of modern physics which describes the properties and nature of atoms and their subatomic particles

theory of relativity

theory constructed by Albert Einstein which describes how space, time and energy are different for different observers in relative motion

science

the study or knowledge of how the physical world operates, based on objective evidence determined through observation and experimentation