Physics MEANING

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Physics

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


For other uses, see Physics (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Physis.
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Physics

The fundamental science


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Physics is the natural science of matter, involving the study of matter,[a] its fundamental
constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy
and force.[2] Physics is one of the most fundamental scientific disciplines, with its main goal
being to understand how the universe behaves.[b][3][4][5] A scientist who specializes in the field of
physics is called a physicist.

Physics is one of the oldest academic disciplines and, through its inclusion of astronomy, perhaps
the oldest.[6] Over much of the past two millennia, physics, chemistry, biology, and certain
branches of mathematics were a part of natural philosophy, but during the Scientific Revolution
in the 17th century these natural sciences emerged as unique research endeavors in their own
right.[c] Physics intersects with many interdisciplinary areas of research, such as biophysics and
quantum chemistry, and the boundaries of physics are not rigidly defined. New ideas in physics
often explain the fundamental mechanisms studied by other sciences[3] and suggest new avenues
of research in these and other academic disciplines such as mathematics and philosophy.

Advances in physics often enable new technologies. For example, advances in the understanding
of electromagnetism, solid-state physics, and nuclear physics led directly to the development of
new products that have dramatically transformed modern-day society, such as television,
computers, domestic appliances, and nuclear weapons;[3] advances in thermodynamics led to the
development of industrialization; and advances in mechanics inspired the development of
calculus.

The expansion of the universe


according to the Big Bang theory in physics

History
Main article: History of physics

The word physics comes from the Latin physica ('study of nature'), which itself is a borrowing of
the Greek φυσική (phusikḗ 'natural science'), a term derived from φύσις (phúsis 'origin, nature,
property').[8][9][10]

Ancient astronomy

Main article: History of astronomy

Ancient Egyptian astronomy is


evident in monuments like the ceiling of Senemut's tomb from the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt.

Astronomy is one of the oldest natural sciences. Early civilizations dating before 3000 BCE,
such as the Sumerians, ancient Egyptians, and the Indus Valley Civilisation, had a predictive
knowledge and a basic awareness of the motions of the Sun, Moon, and stars. The stars and
planets, believed to represent gods, were often worshipped. While the explanations for the
observed positions of the stars were often unscientific and lacking in evidence, these early
observations laid the foundation for later astronomy, as the stars were found to traverse great
circles across the sky,[6] which could not explain the positions of the planets.

According to Asger Aaboe, the origins of Western astronomy can be found in Mesopotamia, and
all Western efforts in the exact sciences are descended from late Babylonian astronomy.[11]
Egyptian astronomers left monuments showing knowledge of the constellations and the motions
of the celestial bodies,[12] while Greek poet Homer wrote of various celestial objects in his Iliad
and Odyssey; later Greek astronomers provided names, which are still used today, for most
constellations visible from the Northern Hemisphere.[13]

Natural philosophy

Main article: Natural philosophy

Natural philosophy has its origins in Greece during the Archaic period (650 BCE – 480 BCE),
when pre-Socratic philosophers like Thales rejected non-naturalistic explanations for natural
phenomena and proclaimed that every event had a natural cause.[14] They proposed ideas verified
by reason and observation, and many of their hypotheses proved successful in experiment;[15] for
example, atomism was found to be correct approximately 2000 years after it was proposed by
Leucippus and his pupil Democritus.[16]

Medieval European and Islamic

Main articles: European science in the Middle Ages and Physics in the medieval Islamic world

The Western Roman Empire fell in the fifth century, and this resulted in a decline in intellectual
pursuits in the western part of Europe. By contrast, the Eastern Roman Empire (also known as
the Byzantine Empire) resisted the attacks from the barbarians, and continued to advance various
fields of learning, including physics.[17]

In the sixth century, Isidore of Miletus created an important compilation of Archimedes' works
that are copied in the Archimedes Palimpsest.

Ibn al-Haytham (c. 965 – c. 1040) wrote of his camera obscura


experiments in the Book of Optics.[18]

In sixth-century Europe John Philoponus, a Byzantine scholar, questioned Aristotle's teaching of


physics and noted its flaws. He introduced the theory of impetus. Aristotle's physics was not
scrutinized until Philoponus appeared; unlike Aristotle, who based his physics on verbal
argument, Philoponus relied on observation. On Aristotle's physics Philoponus wrote:

But this is completely erroneous, and our view may be corroborated by actual observation more
effectively than by any sort of verbal argument. For if you let fall from the same height two
weights of which one is many times as heavy as the other, you will see that the ratio of the times
required for the motion does not depend on the ratio of the weights, but that the difference in
time is a very small one. And so, if the difference in the weights is not considerable, that is, of
one is, let us say, double the other, there will be no difference, or else an imperceptible
difference, in time, though the difference in weight is by no means negligible, with one body
weighing twice as much as the other[19]

Philoponus' criticism of Aristotelian principles of physics served as an inspiration for Galileo


Galilei ten centuries later,[20] during the Scientific Revolution. Galileo cited Philoponus
substantially in his works when arguing that Aristotelian physics was flawed.[21][22] In the 1300s
Jean Buridan, a teacher in the faculty of arts at the University of Paris, developed the concept of
impetus. It was a step toward the modern ideas of inertia and momentum.[23]

Islamic scholarship inherited Aristotelian physics from the Greeks and during the Islamic Golden
Age developed it further, especially placing emphasis on observation and a priori reasoning,
developing early forms of the scientific method.

Although Aristotle's principles of physics was criticized, it is important to identify the evidence
off of which he based his views. When thinking of the history of science and math, it is notable
to acknowledge the contributions made by older scientists. Aristotle's science was the backbone
of the science taught in schools today. Aristotle published many biological works including The
Parts of Animals, in which he discusses both biological science and natural science as well. It is
also integral to mention the role Aristotle had in the progression of physics and metaphysics and
how his beliefs and findings are still taught in science classes today. The explanations that
Aristotle gives for his findings are also simple. When thinking of the elements, Aristotle believed
that each element (earth, fire, water, air) had its own natural place.[24] Meaning that because of
the density of these elements, they will revert back to their own specific place in the atmosphere.
[25]
So, because of their weights, fire would be at the top, air underneath fire, then water, then
lastly earth. He also stated that when a small amount of one element enters the natural place of
another, the less abundant element will automatically go into its own natural place. For example,
if there is a fire on the ground, if you pay attention, the flames go up into the air as an attempt to
go back into its natural place where it belongs. Aristotle called his metaphysics "first philosophy"
and characterized it as the study of "being as being".[26] Aristotle defined the paradigm of motion
as a being or entity encompassing different areas in the same body.[26] Meaning that if a person is
at a location (A) they can move to a new location (B) and still take up the same amount of space.
This is involved with Aristotle's belief that motion is a continuum. In terms of matter, Aristotle
believed that the change in category (e.g. place) and quality (e.g. color) of an object is defined as
"alteration". But, a change in substance is a change in matter. This is also similar to the idea of
matter today.

He also devised his own laws of motion that include 1) heavier objects will fall faster, the speed
being proportional to the weight and 2) the speed of the object that is falling depends inversely
on the density object it is falling through (e.g. density of air).[27] He also stated that, when it
comes to violent motion (motion of an object when a force is applied to it by a second object)
that the speed that object moves, will only be as fast or strong as the measure of force applied to
it.[27] This is also seen in the rules of velocity and force that is taught in physics classes today.
These rules are not necessarily what is described in physics today but, they are mostly similar. It
is evident that these rules were the backbone for other scientists to revise and edit his beliefs.

The basic way a pinhole camera works

The most notable innovations under Islamic scholarship were in the field of optics and vision,[28]
which came from the works of many scientists like Ibn Sahl, Al-Kindi, Ibn al-Haytham, Al-
Farisi and Avicenna. The most notable work was The Book of Optics (also known as Kitāb al-
Manāẓir), written by Ibn al-Haytham, in which he presented the alternative to the ancient Greek
idea about vision.[citation needed] In his Treatise on Light as well as in his Kitāb al-Manāẓir, he
presented a study of the phenomenon of the camera obscura (his thousand-year-old version of the
pinhole camera) and delved further into the way the eye itself works. Using the knowledge of
previous scholars, he was began to explain how light enters the eye. He asserted that the light ray
is focused, but the actual explanation of how light projected to the back of the eye had to wait
until 1604. His Treatise on Light explained the camera obscura, hundreds of years before the
modern development of photography.[29]

The seven-volume Book of Optics (Kitab al-Manathir) influenced thinking[citation needed] across
disciplines from the theory of visual perception to the nature of perspective in medieval art, in
both the East and the West, for more than 600 years. This included later European scholars and
fellow polymaths, from Robert Grosseteste and Leonardo da Vinci to Johannes Kepler.

The translation of The Book of Optics had an impact on Europe. From it, later European scholars
were able to build devices that replicated those Ibn al-Haytham had built and understand the way
vision works.

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