Physics - The Continuous Search for the Truth
"If you can't explain simply, you don't understand it well enough" - Albert Einstein
My two lab partners had an argument last week. They were arguing about who was smarter; Sir Isaac Newton or Albert Einstein, the two perhaps most famous physicists of all time. To me personally, it is unimaginable to put the two against one another. They both lived at different times, almost three centuries apart, and were both fundamental to what we now call the world of physics. What is so great about these men? Boltzmann, Gauss, Tesla, Feynmann, Curie, Gieger. Just the very mention of any of these names would pump adrenaline down any physicists and if you had just a faint idea what these men discovered or at least the importance of it, you would be too.
The problem of course is that it isn't easy. The Laws and Theory that we use today was the product of centuries of research such that if you were to study them today, we will understand them for what it is more than why it is. Most people I know would tell me that Physics is hard and that is why they are not interested in it. Fair enough, I don't like Literature because wordplay is hard but that didn't stop me from reading books. The problem I think as to why people really dislike Physics is because they do not understand the language of this Science. The language of Physics is Mathematics and if you love Mathematics, Physics will become second nature to you. So what is Physics and why should you care about it? And my simplest answer is: Because it is the Science to seek the Truth of this Universe. If you want to understand all the secrets of the world, you may find them in this field. (pun intended)
The first introduction to Physics that almost everyone with primary education has, would have to be on Forces. Newtonian Physics which basically explains what we can observe. It explains what happens if you push something or when something drops from the sky. Back during Newton's time, this was revolutionary because it is the first time we could properly quantify what we observe and marks the first separation between mere belief such as that in religion and materialistic science.
Ever since then, things have exploded particularly in the last century. The thing is, we are nowhere near the Truth as we are a millennium back. The more we discover new things, the more we realise we don't know about this Universe. As Confucius once said, (in my own words) "To know is to know when we know and to know when we do not know". We are in the middle of the age of discovery and one thing that physicists can all agree is that we don't know what there is to know BUT we do know that we know a little part of the ultimate Truth.
You may be familiar with theories such as Relativity, Quantum, String and Black Hole for example. Perhaps because these were popularized by the media but also because these shaped the Modern Physics of today. It is revolutionary when these theories were proposed and these led to the development of multiple branches in Physics. So what are they? It would take very long to talk through all of them, so I will summarize portions of it and let you delve into them on your own.
Centuries ago, Newton was right... Just not very right. Everything that we know of sort of changes, when we speed and slow things up. Things change when we look at things at a very small or large scale too. We want to know what are we made of. Centuries ago, Democritus thought we were made of atoms. We found out that atoms were made of protons, neutrons and electrons. So what makes these things? Experimentally, we know they were made up of 'quarks' and what makes up 'quarks'? Many theories have been suggested, one of which is String theory which hasn't proven much but if we actually know the answer of what makes up everything, it will tell us exactly what we are and why we are different and why the universe work as such.
Then there is relativity. What happens when we go really fast? The answer is, time slows, dimensions change. If you were travelling at a speed fast enough, to people around you, you will seem not to age at all which brings us to the popular myth of Time Travelling. It is astounding because many things in this universe travels at the speed or close to that of light and we are living simultaneously with that world. (Or are we?) We also know that nothing travels faster than light which brings us the question of what is light exactly? I think that I am getting carried away but essentially, you can see why Physics can be very addicting. It is a journey to unlocking the mysteries of this Universe.
Another fundamental object of debate is between Science and Religion. My take on it is this: we don't know much about science as we do of religion. Any person who says that they know all about this universe on both camps is not telling the truth. What makes one religion more correct than the other? It is debatable. As Al-Ghazali says (again, in my own words) one is irreligious at birth until brought up in their environment and their parents or close one brings them to a certain religion. It is the same way with Science that which a considerable part of it is about belief. Even scientists argue about which Theory is right all the time.
The purpose of me writing this essay is not to highlight the importance of Physics but rather to point out that you should not disregard this field just because it seems hard or redundant. Trust me on this one, it is worth every brain cell to have a tiny understanding of the world (or worlds :,) ) around you.
My two lab partners had an argument last week. They were arguing about who was smarter; Sir Isaac Newton or Albert Einstein, the two perhaps most famous physicists of all time. To me personally, it is unimaginable to put the two against one another. They both lived at different times, almost three centuries apart, and were both fundamental to what we now call the world of physics. What is so great about these men? Boltzmann, Gauss, Tesla, Feynmann, Curie, Gieger. Just the very mention of any of these names would pump adrenaline down any physicists and if you had just a faint idea what these men discovered or at least the importance of it, you would be too.
The problem of course is that it isn't easy. The Laws and Theory that we use today was the product of centuries of research such that if you were to study them today, we will understand them for what it is more than why it is. Most people I know would tell me that Physics is hard and that is why they are not interested in it. Fair enough, I don't like Literature because wordplay is hard but that didn't stop me from reading books. The problem I think as to why people really dislike Physics is because they do not understand the language of this Science. The language of Physics is Mathematics and if you love Mathematics, Physics will become second nature to you. So what is Physics and why should you care about it? And my simplest answer is: Because it is the Science to seek the Truth of this Universe. If you want to understand all the secrets of the world, you may find them in this field. (pun intended)
The first introduction to Physics that almost everyone with primary education has, would have to be on Forces. Newtonian Physics which basically explains what we can observe. It explains what happens if you push something or when something drops from the sky. Back during Newton's time, this was revolutionary because it is the first time we could properly quantify what we observe and marks the first separation between mere belief such as that in religion and materialistic science.
Ever since then, things have exploded particularly in the last century. The thing is, we are nowhere near the Truth as we are a millennium back. The more we discover new things, the more we realise we don't know about this Universe. As Confucius once said, (in my own words) "To know is to know when we know and to know when we do not know". We are in the middle of the age of discovery and one thing that physicists can all agree is that we don't know what there is to know BUT we do know that we know a little part of the ultimate Truth.
You may be familiar with theories such as Relativity, Quantum, String and Black Hole for example. Perhaps because these were popularized by the media but also because these shaped the Modern Physics of today. It is revolutionary when these theories were proposed and these led to the development of multiple branches in Physics. So what are they? It would take very long to talk through all of them, so I will summarize portions of it and let you delve into them on your own.
Centuries ago, Newton was right... Just not very right. Everything that we know of sort of changes, when we speed and slow things up. Things change when we look at things at a very small or large scale too. We want to know what are we made of. Centuries ago, Democritus thought we were made of atoms. We found out that atoms were made of protons, neutrons and electrons. So what makes these things? Experimentally, we know they were made up of 'quarks' and what makes up 'quarks'? Many theories have been suggested, one of which is String theory which hasn't proven much but if we actually know the answer of what makes up everything, it will tell us exactly what we are and why we are different and why the universe work as such.
Then there is relativity. What happens when we go really fast? The answer is, time slows, dimensions change. If you were travelling at a speed fast enough, to people around you, you will seem not to age at all which brings us to the popular myth of Time Travelling. It is astounding because many things in this universe travels at the speed or close to that of light and we are living simultaneously with that world. (Or are we?) We also know that nothing travels faster than light which brings us the question of what is light exactly? I think that I am getting carried away but essentially, you can see why Physics can be very addicting. It is a journey to unlocking the mysteries of this Universe.
Another fundamental object of debate is between Science and Religion. My take on it is this: we don't know much about science as we do of religion. Any person who says that they know all about this universe on both camps is not telling the truth. What makes one religion more correct than the other? It is debatable. As Al-Ghazali says (again, in my own words) one is irreligious at birth until brought up in their environment and their parents or close one brings them to a certain religion. It is the same way with Science that which a considerable part of it is about belief. Even scientists argue about which Theory is right all the time.
The purpose of me writing this essay is not to highlight the importance of Physics but rather to point out that you should not disregard this field just because it seems hard or redundant. Trust me on this one, it is worth every brain cell to have a tiny understanding of the world (or worlds :,) ) around you.
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