Physics

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Even if there is only one possible unified theory, it is just a set of rules and equations. What is it that breathes fire into the equations and makes a universe for them to describe?

Stephen Hawking

Physics is the study of the interaction between objects, ranging in size (and specialty) from subatomic particles to galaxies and the universe.

Most of what would be considered physics that relates to interplanetary or stellar size and distance ranges is called astrophysics, or astronomy.

The languages of most physical theories and laws use higher mathematics such as analysis, but primarily the evaluation of differential equations. Most breakthroughs in physics have necessitated the use of already existing mathematical techniques. Examples include matrix mechanics for quantum interpretation, and the calculus for early mechanics.

The four principal breakthroughs in the history of physics have been:

Contents

[edit] Early physics

Aristotle believed that everything was made up of one of the five states of matter: earth, fire, air, water, or magic: the "quintessence", or "fifth essence". He was working in the dark.

[edit] Eighteenth century physics

Newton did a pretty good job of mathing up some stuff. That is to say that Newton began attaching a sort of mathematical formalism to the science that had not really existed up until this point.

Some other people pitched in with more details.

[edit] Nineteenth century physics

Maxwell did for electromagnetism what Newton had done for mass and gravity by building it into a coherent theory.

[edit] Twentieth century physics

Einstein complicated Newton's work at high relative velocities, or when dealing with extreme masses.

Later, quantum mechanics made some very strange predictions about how the universe works at a very small scale. Due to the inherent "spookiness" of quantum mechanics, it has been a favorite target of pseudoscientists and people who like to point out that science is not perfect.

[edit] Twenty-first century physics

One of the more popular of today's physics topics is the attempt to unify the theory of general relativity with quantum mechanics. This would be called a "theory of everything" because it would mean that all four of the known fundamental forces (gravity, weak-nuclear, strong-nuclear and electromagnetic) are explained by one theory governing their interaction with the world as we know it. Whoever manages this wins at physics.

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