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Introduction of Physical World

 

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Introduction to Physical World

The word Science is derived from the Latin word Scientia which means to know. We know that science is as old as the human species. Many early civilizations of India, Egypt, Greece, China, and Mesopotamia have contributed very much for the progress in the area of science. Later from 16thcentury onwards much progress were made in Europe in the field of science. Science had become a truly international venture as many countries contributed very much into this field. Science is concerned with understanding of nature and the physical world. Thus we can understand how the natural and the physical world works.

Many discoveries and inventions were made by different scientists all over the world. Science is a system which builds and also organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and provable predictions about the universe. We know that science is a systematic approach to understand the natural phenomena. It thus provides a detailed description about each and everything that exists in this universe. The eagerness and strong desire to learn about the world and resolving the secrets of nature led to the discovery of science.

Natural science is divided into two branches. They are life science and physical science. Physical science is a branch of natural science that deals with the study of different natural phenomena which is based on different laws and evidences. Physics, chemistry and earth science comes under the category of physical science.
 

Branches of science

Physics

Physics is a branch of science that includes the study of physical world like the relation between energy and matter. The energy is the conceptual system that gives us an idea about how the universe works and accounts for changes in matter. We know that energy can be changed from one form to another. It is transformed by the physical events. Energy can neither be created nor be destroyed. When transformed, usually some part of it goes to heat.

Energy transformation

Energy transformation

By learning physics, we can understand the physical world in a more clear aspect. Physics can be described as the science of measurement.The goal of physics is to use a small number of basic concepts, equations and  assumptions to describe the physical world.

The scientific methods involvesseveral steps like observation, hypothesis experiments, verification or falsification of theories and conclusion. A scientific theory is ultimately accepted when it is verified by relevant observations or experiments. The observation leads to questions. Hypothesis is a guess as why something happened. Experiments are done to test the hypothesis and then we will evaluate the results. We may conclude this by checking whether the data support the hypothesis.

 The word Physics which comes from the Greek word Phusis was introduced by the ancient scientist Aristotle. All the events in nature are taking place due to some basic laws. Physics reveals these basic laws from the observations. We could explain different physical phenomena by certain concepts and laws.Through physics we could examine how matter moves through space and time and also how it affect things like energy and force. Both chemistry and biology rely on the laws of physics to perform various calculations.
 

Unification and Reduction

We observe the physical world as manifestation of some universal laws in different domains and with the required conditions applicable as per the contexts. For Example, the law of gravitation explains the nature of forces between the earth and the moon and also the force that bounce the planets in the solar system in their orbits. The laws of physics can be applied on simple system and thus we will be able to understand the working of complex system. This is done by breaking the complex system into simple constituent systems.This kind of approach is reductionism. It is an approach to understand the nature of complex things by reducing them into simpler parts or more fundamental thing.

Unification is the process of unifying different laws which is proved and valid into one theory which explains different phenomena. Unification and reduction are the principle thrusts of physics.

It is said that Physics is the king of science. Physics involves the study of two fundamental constituents of universe which are matter and radiation. It covers a range of magnitude of physical quantities like length, mass, time, energy etc. Mechanics is based on Newton’s laws of motion and also law of gravitation.The electromagnetism deals with the observations, principles, laws and methods that relate electricity and magnetism. Thermodynamics includes changes in internal changes in internal energy, temperature, entropy, etc. of the system through external work and transfer of heat.

The scope of physics can be extended on two basic domains which are macroscopic and microscopic. It deals with the static and dynamic systems. Physics has its in electronics, mechanical, chemical and many other fields.


Relation between Mathematics and Physics

Physics is related with mathematics to great extent. It uses mathematics as a powerful language. In Physics equations are very important tools for modelling observations and for making predictions. Mathematics give final shape to the rules of physics, it presents them in workable form. Mathematical calculations occur at every step in Physics. One of the simple application of math in physics is measuring things. The laws of motion, friction, and expansion of solid and liquid pressure are explained using mathematics. Each rule and principle in physics takes mathematical form and mathematics gives them their final shape.

Physics and mathematics

Physics and mathematics

The scope of physics can be extended on two basic domains which are macroscopic and microscopic. It deals with the static and dynamic systems. Physics has its in electronics, mechanical, chemical and many other fields. Many of the inventions, discoveries, the appliances we are using are all made possible by just the application of principles of physics.
 

Summary

  • Science is concerned with understanding of nature and the physical world.

  • Natural science is divided into two which are life science and physical science.

  • Physical science is the science that deals with the study of various phenomena that happens in nature. It comprises physics, chemistry and earth science.

  • Physics is a branch of science that includes the study of physical world.

  • Phusis was introduced by Aristotle which means nature. Physics was derived from this word.

  • Physics is very muchrelated with mathematics.
     

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