The Greatness of Physics - Express Your Love!

[stevenytc]

Isn't the subject great? Anyone that shares my feeling please reply "I LOVE PHYSICS"

 

[Loren Booda]

"I Love Physics Forums."

 

[Pengwuino]

Isn't the subject great? Anyone that shares my feeling please reply "I LOVE PHYSICS"

ew why?

 

[Char. Limit]

Math > Physics.

 

[Pengwuino]

Math > Physics.

Don't be alarmed. He has mathematical dyslexia and meant Physics >> Dirt > Math.

 

[Char. Limit]

Don't be alarmed. He has mathematical dyslexia and meant Physics >> Dirt > Math.

Keep telling yourself that, Peng.

 

[elabed haidar]

Isn't the subject great? Anyone that shares my feeling please reply "I LOVE PHYSICS"

me toooooooo man , even though it can get very hard , you still can understand it because its logical ,

 

[Pengwuino]

you still can understand it because its logical ,

Famous last words of sophomore physics majors.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

You seem to have spelt physics wrong, it's actually B-I-O-L-O-G-Y

 

[I like Serena]

Don't be alarmed. He has mathematical dyslexia and meant Physics >> Dirt > Math.

I don't understand?

Physics is shifted to the right by Dirt, and if the result it is greater than Math, it is true?

 

[micromass]

Don't be alarmed. He has mathematical dyslexia and meant Physics >> Dirt > Math.

Pfu, we all know that physics is just an application of mathematics.

 

[Klockan3]

Pfu, we all know that physics is just an application of mathematics.

Mathematics is a tool created by physicists to solve physics problems. Then it turned out that you can apply it in other areas as well. It is our physical world which dictates how the maths looks, not the other way around. All axioms are chosen so that the mathematics resulting from it looks like something familiar to us, it is created to fit physics. Then some mathematicians extrapolated on some of those concepts but ultimately it all comes from physics. Physics on the other hand isn't created by anything, it is discovered.

 

[micromass]

Mathematics is a tool created by physicists to solve physics problems. Then it turned out that you can apply it in other areas as well. It is our physical world which dictates how the maths looks, not the other way around. All axioms are chosen so that the mathematics resulting from it looks like something familiar to us, it is created to fit physics. Then some mathematicians extrapolated on some of those concepts but ultimately it all comes from physics. Physics on the other hand isn't created by anything, it is discovered.

Mathematics has been around much longer than physics. It was Thales (about 2600 years ago) that formulated the first mathematical theorems.
Physics is much younger, so it isn't fair to say that mathematics is created by physicists. In my opinion, mathematics is created by economists and philosophers.

 

[Klockan3]

Mathematics has been around much longer than physics. It was Thales (about 2600 years ago) that formulated the first mathematical theorems.
Physics is much younger, so it isn't fair to say that mathematics is created by physicists. In my opinion, mathematics is created by economists and philosophers.

All of those philosophers were more physicists than they were mathematicians, Thales for example invented maths since he wanted to calculate different physical properties such as distances.

 

[elabed haidar]

math is abstract , if it wasnt for physic's you couldn't understand the meaning fo the universe , all the inventions came to life by physics , maybe with some help of math but physics is the basic study for understanding everything is going on in life.

 

[micromass]

All of those philosophers were more physicists than they were mathematicians, Thales for example invented maths since he wanted to calculate different physical properties such as distances.

I wouldn't exactly say that the Greek philosophers were physicists. Real physics using the scientific method began with Galileo. It was then that mathematics was used to describe various physical properties. But of course, mathematics was already sufficiently developed by then.

Thales, by the way, was the first to formulate and prove things like "the diameter of a circle cuts the circle in two equal parts". I doubt that he proved this to use it in physical things, no he proved it because of a certain philosophy.

 

[micromass]

math is abstract , if it wasnt for physic's you couldn't understand the meaning fo the universe , all the inventions came to life by physics , maybe with some help of math but physics is the basic study for understanding everything is going on in life.

So, what is the meaning of the universe according to physics?

 

[elabed haidar]

do you want me to start with big bang? relativity or what ?? my point is that whether you like it or not, physics makes you understand how the world works ? from the simple things like why hot heat always goes to cold stuff not vice versa to special relativity of einstein?

 

[Vagn]

I wouldn't exactly say that the Greek philosophers were physicists. Real physics using the scientific method began with Galileo. It was then that mathematics was used to describe various physical properties. But of course, mathematics was already sufficiently developed by then.

Thales, by the way, was the first to formulate and prove things like "the diameter of a circle cuts the circle in two equal parts". I doubt that he proved this to use it in physical things, no he proved it because of a certain philosophy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_al-Haytham" disagrees with this.

 

[micromass]

do you want me to start with big bang? relativity or what ?? my point is that whether you like it or not, physics makes you understand how the world works ? from the simple things like why hot heat always goes to cold stuff not vice versa to special relativity of einstein?

Start anywhere you want. Physics might tell us how systems behave, but physics can never give a meaning behind these things. What's the meaning behind the big bang, relativity, quantum stuff? Physics cannot answer that. And it shouldn't, because that's not his purpose...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_al-Haytham" disagrees with this.

You are correct! I spoke too fast! The arab world was much more open to science and physics at the time!

 

[Klockan3]

I wouldn't exactly say that the Greek philosophers were physicists. Real physics using the scientific method began with Galileo.

Why do you draw the line of physics at the period when the scientific method were born? Why wouldn't Thales who wanted to show that all phenomena have a natural explanation be deemed a physicist? Isn't that the core of a physicist, trying to explain the inner workings of the world in a way intuitive to people?

It was then that mathematics was used to describe various physical properties.

No, math was already used long before then to describe and calculate things like distances, volumes and velocities. He just formalized the process.

Thales, by the way, was the first to formulate and prove things like "the diameter of a circle cuts the circle in two equal parts". I doubt that he proved this to use it in physical things, no he proved it because of a certain philosophy.

That doesn't go against anything I said. All the old philosophers were scholars of many subjects, I just stated that the philosophers at least according to my notions are more physicists than mathematicians.

 

[elabed haidar]

computers internet refrigerators , light , microwaves every electrical machine was done due to the basics information found in physics NOT MATH , i should admit that math is the key to solve the problems physics usually face , but the world is physics the most obvious thing that shows that physics is the world in gravity man , as long as i know NEWton figured it out not thales

 

[elabed haidar]

Guys listen , i admit math is important , but you guys(math ) only help out but can not explain anything in the reason why the universe goes always to disorder(second law ofthermodynamics) or why sometimes we can not hear the sound coming from a speaker (sound interference) everything you need to know goes back to physics

 

[micromass]

Why do you draw the line of physics at the period when the scientific method were born? Why wouldn't Thales who wanted to show that all phenomena have a natural explanation be deemed a physicist? Isn't that the core of a physicist, trying to explain the inner workings of the world in a way intuitive to people?

It doesn't mean that you want to explain the working of the world that you are a physicist. Then you could as well say that the writers of the Bible were physicists since they also wanted to describe the world.
What a physicist is to me, is somebody who describes the world using the scientific method. Somebody using experiments to falsify their hypotheses. This was (as far as I know of) not done by the Greeks. That's why they are philosophers and not physicists.

 

[micromass]

Guys listen , i admit math is important , but you guys(math ) only help out but can not explain anything in the reason why the universe goes always to disorder(second law ofthermodynamics) or why sometimes we can not hear the sound coming from a speaker (sound interference) everything you need to know goes back to physics

I would love to hear you explain those things without using mathematics. Without mathematics, physics would be nowhere! But without physics, mathematics would still exist (it wouldn't be as important, or useful or well-developed though)

 

[Klockan3]

It doesn't mean that you want to explain the working of the world that you are a physicist. Then you could as well say that the writers of the Bible were physicists since they also wanted to describe the world.
What a physicist is to me, is somebody who describes the world using the scientific method. Somebody using experiments to falsify their hypotheses. This was (as far as I know of) not done by the Greeks. That's why they are philosophers and not physicists.

Can you find any definition out there which says that physicists needs to conform to the scientific method to be called physicists? Quote from wikipedia:

Physics is one of the oldest academic disciplines, perhaps the oldest through its inclusion of astronomy.//^ Evidence exists that the earliest civilizations dating back to beyond 3000 BCE, such as the Sumerians, Ancient Egyptians, and the Indus Valley Civilization, all had a predictive knowledge and a very basic understanding of the motions of the Sun, Moon, and stars.

Making theories based on reasoning on how the world works is still physics even if you don't apply the scientific method. Things like black holes and most of quantum do not abide to the scientific method but are still considered physics and people working with them are still considered physicists. Quantum doesn't abide to the scientific method since by its very nature you can't have repeatable experiments for example, you wouldn't be able to falsify it since it is all about probabilities. Physicists however are pragmatic about this and understands that you don't have to be that strict with the scientific method, it was created on the basis that the world is deterministic.

 

[micromass]

Can you find any definition out there which says that physicists needs to conform to the scientific method to be called physicists? Quote from wikipedia:

I can't, but that's my definition of physics. If you do math without scientific method, then you're just doing mathematics, not physics. You're free to disagree, though.

 

[Klockan3]

I can't, but that's my definition of physics. If you do math without scientific method, then you're just doing mathematics, not physics. You're free to disagree, though.

So all who do things related to quantum are not doing physics but instead doing mathematics? Since strictly speaking quantum do not conform to the scientific method.

 

[micromass]

So all who do things related to quantum are not doing physics but instead doing mathematics? Since strictly speaking quantum do not conform to the scientific method.

I don't know much about quantum, but quantum physicists do work with experiments to falsify their hypotheses. So yes, quantum is physics.

String theory however...

 

[Klockan3]

I don't know much about quantum, but quantum physicists do work with experiments to falsify their hypotheses. So yes, quantum is physics.

No, you can't falsify any predictions made by quantum since no occurrence have 0 probability.