C3 SCIENOPEDIA

PHYSICS

References:
https://www.texasgateway.org/resource/11-physics-definitions-and-applications
https://www.tntech.edu/cas/physics/aboutphys/about-physics.php

Physics is a branch of science that studies the fundamental nature of matter, energy, space, and time, and the interactions between them. It seeks to understand the fundamental principles and laws that govern the behavior of the physical world, from the smallest particles to the largest cosmic structures. It is a quantitative science that uses mathematical tools to describe and explain the behavior of physical phenomena. It encompasses a wide range of topics, including classical mechanics, electromagnetism, thermodynamics, quantum mechanics, relativity, astrophysics, and cosmology, among others.

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HISTORY

Isaac Newton

25 December 1642 – 20 March 1727


Notable Contributions in The Field of Physics:

Newton's laws of motion and his law of universal gravitation were groundbreaking theories that laid the groundwork for our understanding of motion, force, and gravity.


References:
https://iep.utm.edu/thales/
https://openstax.org/books/physics/pages/1-1-physics-definitions-and-applicationshttps://www.jstor.org/stable/6605?seq=6https://explorable.com/ancient-physics

The history of physics spans thousands of years and is marked by significant advancements in our understanding of the physical world. Here are some key milestones in the history of physics:


Ancient Greeks

The ancient Greek philosophers, including Thales, Pythagoras, and Aristotle, made important contributions to early physics. They proposed theories on the nature of matter, the principles of motion, and the structure of the universe.

17th Century

In the 17th century, physicists such as Isaac Newton and Galileo Galilei developed the foundations of classical mechanics, which describe the motion of objects in the macroscopic world. Newton's laws of motion and his law of universal gravitation were groundbreaking theories that laid the groundwork for our understanding of motion, force, and gravity.

19th Century

In the 19th century, physicist Michael Faraday and mathematician James Clerk Maxwell formulated the laws of electromagnetism, which describe the behavior of electric and magnetic fields. Maxwell's equations unified the phenomena of electricity and magnetism and led to the development of electromagnetism as a field of study. In the 19th century, physicists such as Sadi Carnot and Rudolf Clausius developed the laws of thermodynamics, which describe the behavior of heat and energy in systems. These laws laid the foundation for the field of thermodynamics, which has applications in areas such as energy conversion, heat engines, and refrigeration.

20th and 21st centuries

In the 20th and 21st centuries, advances in telescopes and observational techniques have greatly expanded our understanding of the universe at large scales. Cosmologists study the origin, structure, and evolution of the universe, including topics such as the Big Bang theory, dark matter, and dark energy.

Significance of Physics

Physics plays an important role in understanding the mechanisms of the world, and even the universe, around us. It is the most prominent branch of science to coincide with mathematics, which means it quantifies the different natural phenomena around us. We use abstract concepts such as numbers to describe the transfer of heat, the amount of velocity and acceleration, the impact of collision, light, sound, and many more.Physics is a big help in designing things like (usually) safe and neighborhood-friendly transportation, the television, the camera, and even the computers and smartphones we use in our daily lives. We can create a whole new world based upon these laid-out rules. Through a better understanding of our surroundings, we can engineer and create stuff based upon and limited by these concepts.That’s one more thing: it grounds us as humans. We are naturally exploratory, we share inquisitiveness as a society and discovery is what drives us forward. The laws of physics give us a specific scope of what we can and can no longer do. Nature may be unforgiving sometimes, but through a study of it, we can conquer and maximize the opportunities given by nature into the world that we have today.