Why Are Some Phenomena Unsolved in Physics?

[jobsism]

Physics is Amazing!

I have been thinking a lot, and finally came to the conclusion that every phenomenon that i know of can be explained in terms of physics, and hence the title for the post! :D But, is there any phenomenon, anything at all that can't even be approached by the laws of physics? I am not talking about unsolved theorems, but phenomena like turbulence (although turbulence to some extent is explainable).

 

[tiny-tim]

hypnotism? ​

 

[JaredJames]

Science aims to explain everything.

Don't confuse what we can't explain now with what we will never explain (due to its nature).

Turbulence eludes us at the moment, but there's no reason we can't solve it eventually. God on the other hand is something science won't touch with a barge pole.

 

[oraclelive]

Only time will tell that phenomenon which can't be approached with laws of physics.As for me,it is only that which God has allowed mankind to know that we should bother about.

 

[JaredJames]

Only time will tell that phenomenon which can't be approached with laws of physics.

There is no reason that any subject cannot be approached by science.

It is only when we, as humans, try to give supernatural / paranormal explanations that physics falls flat because it simply "can't" or more appropriately "doesn't want to got there".

 

[Nabeshin]

Science has given us some interesting answers as to what it can and cannot do... Suppose you want to ask the question when a specific radioactive atom in your hand will decay. The best science can do is say "Well, it probably won't decay until this time and will almost certainly have decayed by this time." That's something fundamental.

Turbulence is a good example of something similar. No matter how well we can measure the initial conditions, our predictions will eventually be wrong because of the nonlinearities inherent in the system. That's a simple fact about nature.

Any physical phenomenon is by assumption observable, and science can seek to understand any observable phenomenon. How far we are able to take this inquiry is then limited by some fundamental aspects of nature (probabilistic interpretation of QM and chaos, for my two above examples). The only things we cannot hope to study are those which are unobservable, things like the soul, morality, or alternate universes (I use the word universe in the truest sense of the term -- anything we can or can ever interact with. Not to be confused with any notion of an alternate universe which may be somehow accessible).