Physics 3 Marks Question

It is said that word ‘impossible’ is missing in the dictionary of a politician. Politics is, therefore, treated as an art of making every impossible thing possible for a politician. Similarly, there is hardly any scientific problem which cannot be solved by a scientific approach. Science is therefore treated as an art of getting solutions for those problems also which appear to have no solution because even most complex phenomena of nature have their explanations in terms of a few basic laws of physics.

A common observation in our daily life is that light travels in straight line. When Huygens propounded his wave theory, it was against the accepted belief. However, soon it became a dogma as reflection, refraction etc., could be successfully explained on the basis of wave theory. When photoelectric effect was discovered then it was found that wave theory of light cannot explain the phenomena and we came to a conclusion that light truely has dual characteristic. It may behave both as wave and a particle. We may consider other similar examples from the history of science.

More than two centuries ago, England and Western Europe invented steam engine, electricity, theory of gravitation and the explosives. Steam engines helped them in the field of hat and thermodynamics, theory of gravitation in field of motion and making guns and cannons. These progresses brought about industrial revolution in England and Western Europe.

Many phenomena which are based on the assumption of existence of atoms have been theoretically predicted and experimentally verified. These phenomena indirectly establish the existence of atoms. But no such phenomenon has been observed which proves the existence of ghosts or which can be explained on the assumption of ghosts.

There are many factors which have hindered the advancement of science in India. Some of these are:

1. There is lack of clear cut policies at the political level. There is undue political interference and bureaucratisation in the management of science and technology.
2. Due to excessive population, our country cannot afford to expend sufficient funds on science and technology.
3. Talented scientists and technologists are not encouraged to per sue research work in the homeland. Instead, they prefer to migrate to developed countries’ where they get better salaries and research facilities.
4. There is lack of coordination between researchers and industraliasts. Industralists like to borrow technology from advanced countries rather than to use indigeneous technology.

No, it is not true. Physics has unlimited scope and its conceptual base can be noticed in immense number of activities/ fields. Can a cricket or a hockey player say that physics has nothing to do with his game? No, he is using collision phenomenon every second of his game along with Newton's laws of motion. Can you say that you walk without physics, talk without physics, eat without physics and so on, all that need friction. A musician uses physics, Physics is applied in every walk of life. Therefore we cannot say that physics is noticed only in the practice of few blessed ones.

Let us imagine a spaceship moving towards a distant star, 500 light years away. Let it be propelled by current fed into the electric wires of the motor. At this stage another spaceship filled with matter and anti- matter comes to the rescue of the first ship and it ( i.e. Ist ship) continues its onward journey. Another way to put is: Now matter can be changed into energy and energy into matter. A man of 22nd century stands on a platform of a specially designed machine which energises him and his body disappears in the form of energy. After split of a second. He appears at a place much far away from the previous one just intact.

By unification we mean explanation of diverse physical phenomena in terms of a few concepts and laws. As an example, the law of gravitation describes the motion under gravity, motion of Moon and satellites as well as motion of planets. Again, Maxwell's equations of electromagnetism govern all electric and magnetic phenomena. By reductionism approach we try to derive the properties of a bigger, more complex, system from the properties and interactions of its constituent simpler parts. As an example thermodynamics deals with bulk systems in terms of macroscopic quantities like temperature, internal energy, entropy etc. The kinetic theory and statistical mechanics interpreted these quantities in terms of the properties of the molecular constituents of the bulk system.

A scientist works for the truth. Every scientific discovery reveals a certain truth of nature. So, any discovery, bad or good for mankind, must be made public. But with that being said, we cannot afford to be blind to consequences. Before disclosing it we must ascertain the degree of good or bad consequences it will have. If we know that a certain discovery has nothing but dangerous consequences to offer to the mass, the discovery is best kept limited only to the knowledge of the scientist and researches working on it. This way the discovery can help societies in the long run without completely destroying it now.

The end of 20th century is a witness of the intricate relation between science and society. If one can say that it has entered the nerves of the society, it will not be an exaggeration. Even the marriages are being fixed on internet and celebrated in aeroplanes. Think of discos. You can make images of criminals by computers apart from host of other activities like reservation, animation, designing, printing etc. These effects on society are in addition to the ones which revolutionized and societies by mechanical revolution of first half of the 20th century like X-rays, nuclear energy, wireless, satellite, electronics, computer and robots.

Three important discoveries of physics, which have revolutionised modern chemistry, are:

1. Study of radioactivity.
2. Quantum theory.
3. Study of isotopes and determination of their masses by mass spectrographs.

It is said that word ‘impossible’ is missing in the dictionary of a politician. Politics is, therefore, treated as an art of making every impossible thing possible for a politician. Similarly, there is hardly any scientific problem which cannot be solved by a scientific approach. Science is therefore treated as an art of getting solutions for those problems also which appear to have no solution because even most complex phenomena of nature have their explanations in terms of a few basic laws of physics.

A common observation in our daily life is that light travels in straight line. When Huygens propounded his wave theory, it was against the accepted belief. However, soon it became a dogma as reflection, refraction etc., could be successfully explained on the basis of wave theory. When photoelectric effect was discovered then it was found that wave theory of light cannot explain the phenomena and we came to a conclusion that light truely has dual characteristic. It may behave both as wave and a particle. We may consider other similar examples from the history of science.

For progress every leader has to be a thinker at a higher level in his field than ordinary man. This is more so in case of physicists as the technological development meant for uplifting the living condition of mankind is dependent on the far sight of the physicists in particular. The physicist must think at a level which is philosophical and mathematically quantifying so that they can visualize the requirement of people at least a quarter of century in advance.

Progress in the field of science and technology is interrelated. Sometimes technology gives rise to new physics and at other times physics generates new technology. The discipline of thermodynamics arose mainly to understand and improve the working of heat engines. Similarly discovery of basic laws of electricity and magnetism led to development of wireless communication technology. Therefore, we can conclude that physics and technology are closely related.

More than two centuries ago, England and Western Europe invented steam engine, electricity, theory of gravitation and the explosives. Steam engines helped them in the field of hat and thermodynamics, theory of gravitation in field of motion and making guns and cannons. These progresses brought about industrial revolution in England and Western Europe.

Imagination plays vital role in physics. Development of theories and concepts in physics originate from hypothetical imaginations. Heisenberg uncertainty principle, Huygens principle, Maxwell equations, Schrodinger wave equation, Bohr's theory etc., were the imaginations of scientists which are successfully employed to explain the various phenomena occurring in nature.

Many phenomena which are based on the assumption of existence of atoms have been theoretically predicted and experimentally verified. These phenomena indirectly establish the existence of atoms. But no such phenomenon has been observed which proves the existence of ghosts or which can be explained on the assumption of ghosts.